Ironette
by Ironette3
Summary: Tony Stark's parents die when he is only 21. On the one year anniversary of his parents' death, Tony recieves some news that will change his life forever. Tony Stark is now a father to a baby girl. Follow Tony, Pepper, and Maria's journey all the way up through Iron Man 3!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Disclamer: I own nothing Marvel related!

Author's note at the end!

Enjoyy :)

* * *

His parents were dead. 21 year old Tony Stark's parents had died in a car accident. The title as CEO of Stark Industries was passed down to him; not like that meant anything to Tony though. He didn't take care of the company, leaving all the work to family friend Obadiah Stane. He also had a newfound disrespect for women out of angst, having one night stands more than often. The MIT graduate was now a genious, billionare, and playboy.

His parents had died one year ago, today. Tony sat on the floor in his workshop, leaning against the unfinished car he and his father had been working on together most of his life. He took a sip of alcohol straight out of the bottle, thinking of all the equations and steps that could finish the car. Tony had thought about this more than once, but could never bring himself to take action. Building the car was something he only did with his dad, and his dad was dead. Had been dead for a year already. The workshop was dead silent, just the sound of liquid moving could be heard as Tony took sips of alcohol. When the bottle was finally empty, Tony threw it, letting it smash off the table five feet in front of him. He watched the shards of glass fall to the ground, and stared at them sitting scattered on the concrete floor for a moment, then sighed.

"Jarvis" he called out quietly.

"Yes sir?" replied the AI.

"Time."

"The time is 2:53am." Tony closed his eyes. The day had only started less than 3 hours ago, and he was miserable. It was going to be a long day. He rubbed a hand over his face, as he was tired from not sleeping for 24 hours. He grabbed another bottle of alcohol that he had set on the floor by the car, popped it open, and chugged. Two more bottles later and he layed passed out on the cold concrete floor.

Hours later, Tony was startled awake by Jarvis.

"Sir, you have an incoming call."

"Ignore it" mumbled Tony, closing his eyes again. Why would someone even try to call him on this day? Let alone this early in the morning. Not even a minute later Tony was again unconcious.

It was now later in the day, around 1:30 in the afternoon, and Tony was finally up and moving around. He stood by the toaster in the small kitchen he had in the workshop, drinking a glass of water. He had taken advil for his killer hangover, which he decided to do only after puking muliple times into the nearest trashcan. The toaster popped and Tony cringed, even the slightest noise making his head feel like it was about to explode. He hopped up onto the counter sitting with his legs criss cross, and set the plate of toast in his lap. Staring into space, his thoughts blank, he slowly ate his toast and drank his water. When he finished his toast, he pushed the plate off his lap and onto the counter. He slid off the counter and stood, looking around the room. A blinking red light on the computer on his desk caught his attention. After walking over and taking a seat infront of the desk, he realized the red light indicated that he had one new voicemail. He touched the red blinking cirlce on the screen, and a woman's voice played out the speaker. He turned down the volume a bit, then listened.

"Mr. Stark, this is Doctor Burke from the UCLA Medical Center. You were the first listed on the emergency contact list for Miss Jessica Lambert. If you could call this number back as soon as possible, that would be greatly appreciated. Its urgent." The voicemail ended, and left Tony confused. Why would a doctor from Los Angeles be calling him? And who the hell was Jessica Lambert?

"Jarvis. Call that number back" said Tony.

"As you wish, sir" the AI replied, and then the phone could be heard ringing. After a couple rings, the phone was answered.

"UCLA Medical Center, this is Samantha speaking, how may I help you?"

"Could I" started Tony, his voice scratchy. He cleared his throat, and started again. "Could I speak to Doctor Burke?"

"May I ask who's calling?"

"Tony Stark."

"Oh!" said Samantha, realizing she was talking to the man on the cover of her magazine she had recently bought. "Of course, Mr. Stark, I'll patch you through to her." When Tony didn't reply, she switched the line, the phone ringing for Doctor Burke to answer.

"Doctor Burke" she said, answering the phone.

"Uh hi, this is Tony Stark, I got a call from you earlier?"

"Of course! Mr. Stark! Thank you for calling back. You were the first listed on the emergency contact list we recieved."

"Yeah I got that" replied Tony. He was growing impatient. The doctor got straight to the point.

"Durring the night, Miss Lambert gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Unfortunatly, Miss Lambert did not survive the birth. She has you listed not only as the first emergency contact, but as the father as well." Tonys heart stopped.

"Mr. Stark?" question Doctor Burke, after Tony didn't respond.

"Uh, yeah" he replied slowly. "Listen, this is going to sound really bad, but I don't honestly know who Jessica Lambert is. I think this is a mistake."

"We can run a DNA test to make sure this is infact your daughter if you would like."

"Okay."

"So if you could come in later today, that would be great."

"Um..." Tony hesitated. The last thing he wanted to do today was leave the house.

"Will that be an issue?" asked Doctor Burke. Tony thought for a moment, then sighed.

"No. It wont be a problem."

"Great. Thank you Mr. Stark, we'll be looking forward to seeing you."

"Yupp." And with that, Tony hung up the phone. As soon as the call ended he dialed up Happy Hogan. Two rings in, though, he hung up. Maybe he should just drive himself to LA. Tony stood up and wandered over to the unfinished car deep in thought, broken shards of glass from his alcohol bottles crunching under his feet. Tony Stark was now a father. Well, he could be a father. He still didn't know who Jessica Lambert was. It could just be some random girl who wanted to say she was having a famous man's baby. But the name rang a tiny bell in the back of Tony's head, even though he couldn't place it. Deep down Tony knew that somehow this was all very real, not a mistake. Completely overwhelmed, he picked up a wrench from the box of tools on a cart near the car, and threw it at one of the glass windows by the door that led to the stairs. The glass shattered immediatly, and Tony continued to recklessly throw tools around his workshop. He cringed each time a tool made contact with another object, the noise making his hangover headache worse. What the hell had his life turned into? Why did Howard and Maria have to die that day? If they were still alive, Tony wouldnt have become the depressed, reckless playboy he was today. And he certainly wouldnt have gotten some poor random girl pregnant. The box of tools now empty, Tony sunk to the ground hyperventalating, his anger now turned into despair. He sat up against the car, his head in his knees which he had pulled up to his chest. This couldn't be happening.

* * *

Author's note:

Okay, hi guys! So Ironette is a story I started a while ago, and I posted like 13 chapters on here, and then I kinda stopped writing. I dont like where I took the story at all. So Im starting over. Some of it will be the same, some of it will be brand new. This story is really important to me, so I wanna get it just right!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

Enjoyy :)

The drive to Los Angeles from Malibu was only about an hour. Tony stuck with his decision of going alone. No one needed to know what was going on, the child might not even be his. Tony parked his car, pulled the key out, leaned back into his seat, rubbed his face and sighed. Maybe he should just go home. He could ignore all calls he might get from the hospital, and just pretend none of this ever happened. He could go back to mourning his parents' death, instead of worrying about being a parent himself. But what about the kid? What would happen to the baby if Tony backed out? She would grow up not just without a mother, but without a father as well. Tony knew what it was like to grow up barely having a father, and he knew what it was like to have neither of his parents. And thats what made him take off his seatbelt, get out of the car, and walk up to the hospital doors. He brought that kid into the world, hes not going to be responsible for ruining its life. He had no idea how to raise a child, though, and by taking the baby girl home he may end up ruining her life anyway. Tony tried his best to push that thought out of his head as he walked through the hospital doors. Everyone in the room looked at him as he walked up to the front desk. Even though his day had been hell, he managed to somehow maintain his usual facade.

"Im looking for Doctor Burke" said Tony, leaning against the tall front desk. The young, blonde secretary on the other side must have already known they were expecting Tony, because she replied immediatly, in a hushed tone.

"The nursery is up on the third floor, you'll find Doctor Burke there."

"Thanks" replied Tony, greatful that the secretary had spoken quietly and no one seemed to hear anything.

"Congratulations, Mr. Stark" she called after him, as he walked towards the elevators. Tony didnt acknowledge her words as he stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor, doors closing behind him. Thankfully he was alone in the elevator. If someone else had been in there with him they would probably want to talk. Who would blame them, though? He's Tony Stark! But he didn't want to talk at all, so he was thankful to be alone. The elevator 'dinged' and the doors opened. Tony walked out and turned left, following a sign on the wall that was in the shape of an arrow which read 'Nursery'. He passed multiple doors before finally stopping infront of a large window. He looked in, and his facade he was working so hard to keep was gone. There were over a dozen babies laying in their own crib-type-thing, each one wrapped in either a blue or pink blanket. Tony stared in, not even noticing the woman that was now leaving the nursery to come out and talk to him. He couldn't do this. He couldn't be a father.

"Mr. Stark" said the woman, touching his shoulder. Tony tore his eyes away from the nursery after a moment to look at the woman. She was just about as tall as him, and she wore a long white shirt and white pants. Her dark hair was up in a bun, but a couple pieces had fallen out. She looked young, but not as young as Tony. Her name tag clipped to her breast pocket read 'Burke'. Tony's body was still facing the nursery, and Doctor Burke turned as well.

"Thats her" she said, pointing through the glass to a baby wrapped in pink in the back right corner of the little room. When Tony didn't say anything, she continued to talk.

"We have most of the necessary things you will need for the first few days. You'll have time to get the other stuff you'll need while we wait for the results of the DNA test."

"How long does that take?" asked Tony, his gaze not leaving the small child.

"It could take anywhere from two days to two weeks. We'll try to get it done as soon as possible for you." Tony simply nodded.

"Would you like to meet her?" asked Doctor Burke. She gave no time for Tony to reply before she walked back into the nursery to retrieve the baby. Tony watched as she walked over to the small child. Her lips were moving, she was probably talking to the little girl. Doctor Burke picked up the little bundle, her arms forming a cradle. Tony moved to open the door, as the doctor had no free hand. When they were back to their original spot in the hallway, Doctor Burke moved to let Tony see the baby's face. Tony was never good with the whole 'the baby looks more like its mom/dad' thing. A baby was a baby. They all looked the same to him. But one thing stood out with this child.

"She looks like her mom mostly in my opinion" said the doctor. "Except for her eyes." Doctor Burke looked up at Tony. "She's got your eyes."

"I still want a DNA test" said Tony, eyes still on the baby.

"Lets go take some blood then." Tony opened the door for the doctor, and then moved infront of the window to watch her lay the baby back down. When Doctor Burke was back out in the hallway, she led Tony through the hospital to a small room to take his blood. He sat in the chair silently, deep in thought, while Doctor Burke got everything ready.

"So do you have any names in mind?" she asked.

"This might not be my kid" replied Tony, and Doctor Burke just nodded. They both knew it was Tony's child. The DNA test was pretty much unnecesary. Tony's eyes were unique. They were big brown and beautiful. They were deep. And this baby had them. Doctor Burke took his blood quickly, and moved to cover the spot with a cotton ball.

"Maria" mumbled Tony.

"Excuse me?" said Doctor Burke as she put a bandaid over the cotton ball.

"Maria" Tony said again, a bit louder this time. "Its my mothers name. Her and dad died a year ago." Tony didnt know why he added the part about his family being dead, but the doctor didnt seem to mind.

"Im sorry for your loss. Its a beautiful name though" Doctor Burke said sincerely.

"Thanks" Tony said, almost in a whisper. Doctor Burke finished up the bloodwork and told Tony they would call when they got the results in. She gave him pamphlets on raising a child, and a list of things he will need to buy.

"Go home and study up" she said with a smile. "Congratulations." Why did everyone keep saying that? Couldn't they tell that Tony's life had turned into a living Hell? He wasn't happy he had a kid, it was nothing anyone should congratulate him for. Without replying to the doctor, Tony turned and made his way out of the hospital and to his car. He needed alcohol.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

Enjoyy :)

It had been 3 days since Tony had his blood taken for the DNA test. He hadn't talked to anyone in those 3 days. He hadnt even left his house.

"How am I suppose to raise a baby, J?" Tony sighed. He was in one of his cars, looking at the large screen hanging infront of it. The past few days he had been in the same exact spot, buying the needed supplies for a baby online. With all that taken care of, he was just reading up on the do's and donts of parenting.

"They cant sleep in their crib with a blanket? What the hell?" said Tony, speaking his thoughts out loud. His reading was interupted by Jarvis.

"Sir, Doctor Burke is calling." Tony's stomach dropped. This is the moment he's been waiting for, even though he pretty much already knew the answer.

"Put her through" he told Jarvis. When the click was heard and the doctor was on the line, Tony spoke up.

"Doctor Burke, hi."

"Mr. Stark! Ive got your test result."

"And?" Tony prodded.

"Maria is in fact your biological daughter." Tony was terrified, but he was also a little bit happy. He was a father. He smirked to himself when he heard Doctor Burke call the little girl Maria; she remembered.

"So what happens now?"

"You come back and take her home."

"Ill be there later today."

"Alright, see you then."

"Bye." Jarvis disconnected the call. Tony breathed out a heavy sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Holy shit... Jarvis, call Happy." He figured he shouldnt go alone this time, since he wasnt ready to be alone with the baby just yet.

"Tony! Where ya been? I was getting worried" Happy answered.

"Uh, yeah, Im fine" he replied, then paused. "I um... yeah. Hey! Could you drive me to Los Angeles?"

"Sure thing boss, when?"

"Now" replied Tony simply.

"I'll head over right now then."

"Thanks Hap."

When Happy arrived, Tony walked briskly to the car, and climbed in the passenger seat.

"You look like you havent slept in a week" remarked Happy, taking in the bags under Tony's eyes.

"Its only been 5 days since you last saw me" said Tony. The rest of the car ride went by quickly. Tony and Happy continued to talk to whole ride, until they got close to their destination.

"You havent told me exactly where we're going" stated Happy.

"Oh yeah" Tony said, getting nervous. "Okay, just uh... Take a right up there." When they took a right, they continued on and Happy waited for his next direction.

"Left, right here" continued Tony. Once Happy turned the car left, the hospital was in sight. Tony just pointed to it.

"Right there." Happy pulled in the parking lot and stopped the car.

"Tony this is UCLA. Whats going on?" questioned Happy. When Tony didnt respond, he tried again.

"Tony. Are you okay?" This time, Tony answered.

"Yeah, Im fine" he said, unbuckling his seatbelt. He opened the door and climbled out. Happy opened his door and got out as well, following Tony.

"Just wait here" said Tony. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Im coming with you" replied Happy. Tony smirked.

"Thats a little personal, dont you think Hap?"

"Not funny."

The two walked into the hospital, passing straight by the front desk and to the elevators. Tony did exactly what he did the last time. He hit the button for the 3rd floor, then took a left once out of the elevator. Happy kept walking when Tony stopped at the nursery window. When he noticed Tony was no longer walking, he turned around.

"Why'd you stop?" he questioned.

"This is our final destination" replied Tony. Happy walked over to stand next to Tony.

"The one back there with the pink blanket" said Tony, pointing to the back right corner where Maria was.

"What about her?"

"She's mine" stated Tony. Happy's eyes widened.

"What do you mean she's yours?"

"I got a girl pregnant" Tony explained quietly. "I didnt know till 3 days ago. She died giving birth. Im taking the baby home."

"Well we should probably run a DNA test and-"

"Already did" Tony interupted. Happy just replied with a quiet 'oh'. Just then, Doctor Burke walked up to the two.

"Mr. Stark, good to see you" she greeted. Tony and Happy turned to face her.

"Doctor Burke, Harold Hogan" said Tony, introducing the two.

"Nice to meet you" said Happy shaking her hand as she smiled at him.

"I'll go get her" Doctor Burke said to Tony, before dissapearing into the nursery. She returned to the hallway within a few minutes, and held out the child, expecting Tony to reach out and take her.

"Congratulations, Mr. Stark."

He made a face and stared at the child in the doctor's arms for a moment before slowly reaching out and akwardly holding her in his own arms.

"I guess you're mine now, kid" he said, staring down into the child's deep brown eyes which resembled his own.

"Now if you'll just follow me, we've got some paperwork to do." Tony and Happy followed Doctor Burke into a small office, and Doctor Burke tried to hand Tony a clip board with papers and a pen clipped to it. Again, he made a face.

"I dont like to be handed things" explained Tony.

"You took your baby just fine" said Happy under his breath.

"Im not gonna say no to holding my own child."

"Ill just take it" said Happy to the doctor. She handed him the clip board and he asked Tony the questions, Tony answering while never taking his eyes off Maria.

"Name" Happy read outloud.

"Maria Stark."

"She needs a middle name, Boss." Tony sighed, and sat deep in thought for a moment, searching Maria's small face for an answer. Finally it came to him.

"Rae."

"Rae?"

"R-A-E" said Tony, spelling it out. "Maria Rae Stark."

"Sounds good" said Happy, writing down the name on the paperwork. When all the paperwork was finished, they said their goodbyes to Doctor Burke, and walked out of the hospital, the people passed on the way staring in confusion. Tony carried Maria in a carseat that the hospital had givven him, and Happy carried a baby bag full of necesary things for the first few days, also supplied by the hospital. Tony leaned into the back seat of the car trying to buckle the baby's car seat in.

"You need any help?" asked Hogan, noticing that Tony was clearly having a difficult time buckling the child in. Tony didn't reply, he just simply walked around to the other side of the car, slipping into the back seat next to her. For once, Tony Stark was actually speachless. Happy quickly buckled in the car seat, and walked around to the driver's seat.

"Where to, sir?"

"Just home, Hap" replied Tony, staring out the window. How was he supposed to raise a child all on his own? He was a technological genious, he could build his own A.I., he could build robots, he could even take apart and re-build a car! But raising a kid? He knew nothing at all about it, even with the research he had done. He wanted to be a better father than his own father ever was to him. Maybe it was time he hired an assistant.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

**Authors note at the end!

Enjoyy :)

Once in the driveway of Tony's Malibu home, Tony unbuckled Maria's carseat. Once he got her out of the car, he thanked Happy.

"Sure thing, Boss" Hogan replied, before Tony closed the door. Tony turned and walked towards his front door, Maria asleep in her carseat in one hand and a baby bag over his other shoulder. It was a sight no one ever expected to see. Happy rolled down his window.

"If you need anything, give me a call!" he called out to Tony, and Tony just raised his free hand above his head, his pointer finger and thumb touching, a silent way to say okay. When he got to the door, there were multiple large boxes on the ground. He looked at the label on one, which read 'Babies 'R' Us'. Maria's stuff had arrived. He kicked the boxes aside, and opened the door.

"Welcome home, Sir" greeted Jarvis.

"Thank you kindly, Jarvis" replied Tony sarcastically. He walked into one of the guest rooms directly across the hall from his own room. He had specifically cleaned the room out to make room for Maria's things. He dropped the baby bag, set her on the floor, still in her carseat, and walked back out of the room. He went back and forth between the room and the front door, carrying boxes filled with baby things. Each time, he checked to make sure Maria was still sleeping. Once all the boxes were in her room, he stopped in the kitchen to grab a knife and a small radio which was never used, always hidden in the cupboard under the sink. Once back into Maria's room, he plugged in the radio, turning the dial until a framiliar AC/DC song was heard. He kept the volume at a low level, as to not wake the sleeping child. He grabbed the knife and sat by the largest box, which he assumed to be the crib. He took out all the miscellaneous and grabbed the piece of paper. There was a picture of a crib, and a long list of directions underneath. Tony rolled his eyes and threw the paper behind him. An hour later the crib was put together, and left in the center of the room. The rest of the day was spent opening boxes and putting pieces of furnature together. The only times Tony stopped were to tend to Maria, who would randomly cry every so often. He gave Maria formula the hospital had supplied, and when that didnt work, he would change her diaper; an art he was still attempting to master. When all that failed, he was just left to carry her around the room in circles, bouncing her and murmering random nonsense until she calmed down again. By 8:30, everything had been unboxed and put together. Tony had Maria in one arm, and abunch of papers in his free hand, as he walked down the stairs into his workshop. He punched in his code, the door unlocked, and he walked over to the couch by the small kitchen. He layed Maria on the couch, trusting that she wouldnt move.

"Get these scanned Jarvis" said Tony after walking over to his desk and dropping the papers by the computer. "Its Maria's birth certificate and other stuff like that."

"Right away" replied the AI, as Tony started wandering around the room. He was looking for something specific; the finishing touch to Maria's new bedroom. Looking through a random box, he found just what he was looking for: walkie talkies. He took them and sat down at his desk, pulling duct tape out of one of the desk drawers. He turned both walkie talkies on, and wraped the duct tape around one of them, over the button you hold when you talk into it. He talked into the duct taped walkie talky, and smiled when he heard his voice come out of the other one. He grabbed the walkie talkies and went back over to Maria, who had fallen asleep on the couch.

"Come on Ria" he whispered, picking up the sleeping child. He carried her into her room, and layed her down in her crib. He then took the duct taped walkie talkie and layed it on the nighstand, which was up against the headboard of the crib. He walked silently out of her room, turning off the light and closing the door. He entered his room and threw the other walkie talkie on his bed so he could strip into just his boxers. He climbed into bed and held the walkie talkie close to his ear. He could hear Maria breathing. He was drifting off to sleep right as Maria burst out crying. So much for sleep.

* * *

Tony stood in the kitchen, bouncing Maria up and down. She had been crying nonstop since 6:30am, and nothing Tony did seemed to help. It was now 7:15 and Tony was starting to lose it. The first night with a baby in the house was a nightmare. It was supposed to get better though, right?

"You gotta help me out kid. I have no clue what I'm doing!" said Tony. Just then, his cell phone started ringing in his front pocket. He reached for it and looked at the caller ID. It was Rhodey. Tony breathed a sigh of relief as he answered the phone.

"Hey, Tony! I hear you have a kid. When were you planning on telling me?"

"Where did you hear that?" replied Tony, ignoring Rhodey's question. Honestly, he had no idea when he was gonna tell Rhodey; he hadn't even thought about it.

"Obadiah told me. And you didn't answer my question; when were you planning on telling me?"

"What are you my wife?" replied Tony sarcastically. "I just brought her home yesterday afternoon."

"Oh-"

"Hey!" Tony interupted. "You should come over. Do you know anything about babies?"

"Not really-"

"See ya soon" interupted Tony again, only this time he hung up after. Okay. Rhodey would be over soon and everything would be okay.

When Rhodey arrived and knocked on the door, he receieved no response. He opened the door and let himself in, mentally noting to remind Tony to lock his doors.

"Tony?" As Rhodey started walking further into the house, he heard banging and crying coming from the kitchen. The sight he walked into was a sight he never thought he would see. Tony Stark was standing in the kitchen, in only pajama bottoms, holding a newborn, crying, baby. The kitchen was a mess, food was all over the place. Tony turned around after dumping out cheerios onto the counter and trying to feed them to the child.

"Help me!" he said when he noticed Rhodey standing in the entry way to the kitchen. "She wont stop crying! Ive literally tried everything!" he said, bouncing the crying baby, which seemed to have no affect like it had so far.

"First of all, shes a new born baby, she can't eat cheerios" said Rhodey. "Do you have any formula or something?"

"The hospital gave me some but it ran out" replied Tony, watching Rhodey who was now making his way over to the fridge. He pulled out a jug of milk, poured it into a glass, and put it in the microwave. "Do you have any bottles?"

"I think theres one in the bag a nurse gave me in Maria's room. Here" he said, handing the still crying baby to Rhodey. "Rhodey, Maria. Maria, Rhodey."

"No, Tony, wait!" But it was too late. Tony had already made it out of the kitchen. Who knows if he would ever come back to the kitchen. Luckily, not even 2 minutes later Tony re-appeared in the kitchen, carrying a baby bag. He sat the bag on the counter and started digging through it.

"Got it!" he said, pulling out a bottle.

"Okay, go get the glass of milk out of the microwave and pour it into the bottle" instructed Rhodey. Tony did as he was told, and Maria was handed back over to him. He attempted to put the bottle in her mouth, but she sealed her mouth shut.

"Damnit! Come on, Ria" he said, frustrated. "Uncle Rhodey likes it! See?" He then pretended to feed Rhodey the contents of the bottle.

"Yumm" said Rhodey, very unconvincingly. Tony rolled his eyes at Rhodey and tried to get Maria to accept the bottle again, smirking when his daughter stopped crying and started drinking from the bottle.

"Thank God!"

"You need help Tony, I cant be over here 24/7."

"Im gonna hire an assistant" replied Tony. And thats exactly what he did.

* * *

Author's note:

Okay so I know I ended the last chapter in a way that made you think Pepper was going to show up in this chapter. Sorry about that haha... But I promise you, she will show up in the next chapter, which I might post tonight as well since its already written from my first attempt at this story. It was my favorite chapter I had written in that story so I might just leave it. But yeah, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the reviews and follows and favorites :)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

Enjoy :)

It had been 2 years since Tony Stark had found out he was a father. He started going to work more often, and finally started getting the hang of being a father to Maria. But the one night stands started up again, and and he was extremely difficult to manage. Thats why he had had so many assistants, none lasting more than a couple of months. But Tony had no idea any of this was about to change when a red-headed secretary entered his office in Stark Industries one day. Maria and Tony were sitting on the floor of Tony's office, playing with some toys when there was a light knock on the door.

"Come in" called Tony, continuing to play with his daughter.

"Mr. Stark?" questioned a small red-headed woman, with large greenish-brown eyes and tons of freckles on her pale face.

"Hi" greeted Tony as he set down the stuffed giraffe he was holding to stand up.

"Virginia Potts" she introduced, reaching out a hand which Tony shook.

"Can I help you?"

"More like can I help you. I found an accounting mistake and-"

"My maths never wrong" interupted Tony, taking the papers from Ms. Potts and sitting down at his desk, running the equations through his head; he found the problem.

"Oh... Shit" he muttered under his breath.

"Shit!" repeated Maria, who had started playing by herself on the floor.

"No! Ria! You didn't hear me say that okay?"

"Okay daddy!" Tony turned his attention back to Ms. Potts.

"Listen, Pepper-"

"Pepper?" she questioned.

"Yeah. Your freckles, it looks like you have pepper on your face. And honestly, I don't remember what you said your name was."

"Virginia."

"Anyways, you're hired." said Tony, leaving his desk and walking back over to his daughter, taking a seat on the floor.

"Hired? But I already-"

"I need an assistant. You're hired. Effective immediatly."

"Oh, um... Alright, thank you!" said Pepper, not exactly sure how to feel about her new job title. Tony's attention was now turned back to his daughter.

"Ive got a sh-" he started, then paused, catching himself from swearing again, and restarted. "Ive just got a lot of meetings coming up. Might wanna get on top of it all. My old assistant has all the info in what is now your office nextdoor. Good luck."

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" Tony turned to face Pepper.

"That'll be all, Ms. Potts." replied Tony with a smile. There was something about Pepper that he liked, he had a good feeling about his new assistant.

* * *

When Pepper arrived at Tony's house early in the morning on her first official day on the job, she was welcomed by a note on the table in the entryway.

'Downstairs. Girl in my room, get her outta here. -Tony'

What a great way to start your morning, Pepper thought sarcastically, let alone your new job. Tony really lived up to his playboy status.

"I dont know where your room is, Tony" Pepper mumbled in annoyance.

"Mr. Stark's bedroom is through the living room and into the hallway, first door on the right" said a man with a proper British, his voice coming seemingly from nowhere. Pepper turned, looking in all directions around her, but saw no man.

"Um... Thanks?" she said, confused. She followed the directions the voice had givven her, and ended up in Tony's bedroom. It was a large room, with what seemed to be tinted windows going all the way across one wall. In one corner, there was a chair and a large telescope which was pointing towards the tinted window. The king sized bed's headboard was up against the wall, and there was a blonde woman wrapped in the blankets still asleep. Pepper looked at all the woman's clothes on the floor, and sighed. She collected them into her arms, and walked back into the hallway, quietly closing the door behind her. She figured she would get the woman's clothes dry cleaned while she waited for her to wake up. Pepper wanted to tell Tony that she was leaving for a bit, but she had no clue where he was. He had said he was downstairs. Pepper made her way through the living room and to the staircase that led down, which she noticed looking for Tony's bedroom. She walked down the stairs and was greeted by loud music. She went to open the glass door, and quickly realized it was locked. A keypad appeared on the glass wall next to the door, but Pepper didn't know what to type in. She knocked on the glass in an attempt to get Tony's attention, but doubted he would hear her over the loud rock music. Continuing to knock, Pepper took in the basement on the other side of the glass. It seemed to be some sort of workshop. There were machines and tools and computers all around the room. There was even a line of cars by the back wall. And then there was Tony, sitting with his back to the door, working on one of the cars. Pepper doubted he could hear her.

From inside the workshop, Tony could faintly hear who he assumed to be Pepper knocking on the glass door over his music. He hadnt turned around yet to see if it was in fact Pepper, but who else would be down there this early in the morning? Jarvis would stop his one night stand from walking down the stairs if she attempted to, so it couldnt be her.

"Should we let her in, Ria?" Tony asked Maria, who was sitting in the front seat of the car playing with her toy giraffe. All he got for an answer was a small nod. Apparently she was too busy pretending to drive with the giraffe to give him an actual answer. Tony smiled at Maria then continued his work on the car.

"J, let Pepper in." He heard the door open and close, and the click of high heels on the concrete floor.

"Turn this down!" said Pepper loudly, wanting to be heard over the music. "How do you turn it down?"

"Mute" said Tony simply, still not taking his eyes off his work on the car. The room immediatly became silent, except for Maria, who was quietly repeating her father, saying "moot, moot, moot".

"Thank you" said Pepper, at a normal volume.

"How'd she take it?"

"Oh, um... Shes still sleeping" said Pepper. Tony set down whatever part of the car he was holding and stood up to turn and face her. Before he could say anything, he noticed the bundle of clothes she was holding and smirked.

"Moving in Miss Potts?"

"Not funny. These are um... her clothes" said Pepper, pointing upwards. Tony was amused.

"And you have them because...?"

"Im going to get them drycleaned while shes sleeping."

"Whatever you say Potts" said Tony, smirk stick plastered on his face as he walked over to the other side of the car and hopped in next to Maria.

"Ill be back in 15 minutes" grumbled Pepper, and she turned and started walking out.

"Hey! Grab some cheerios while your out! Maria finished the box" Tony called to her. Pepper turned around in the doorway and shifted her weight to one side.

"Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

"That will be all Miss Potts" Tony replied with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

**Authors note at end!

Enjoyy :)

* * *

Pepper has been working as Tony's assistant for a year.

Maria is 3 years old.

* * *

"Potts, we need food" Tony said into his phone, while staring into an empty fridge.

"Order out again, Im in a meeting. One you should be at, by the way."

"Yeah yeah, Im busy" Tony lied. Honestly, he was doing absolutely nothing, just like he had been all day. He just wanted to stay home and play with Maria. He was attempting to be a better father than his own, and so far he felt he was doing a pretty good job.

"Goodbye, Mr. Stark" Pepper said, slightly aggitated, before hanging up the phone. Tony hadn't even had time to reply before the line had been disconnected. He stared at his phone for a moment, then sighed, and looked over at Maria. She was sitting in the living room infront of the tv, which was on, but it wasn't holding her attention. Her attention was on the tower of blocks she was building. For a two year old, she had pretty steady hands. She was smart as well, something she had gotten from her father. Tony walked over and sat on the floor directly behind Maria. He waited for her to finish putting her block on the tower before scooping her up and sitting her in his lap. He smirked when she squealed with surprise. Apparently she had been so into her tower that she hadnt noticed him behind her.

"'Kay Ria Rae, what do you want for lunch?"

"Waffle!" She said, tilting her head back in an attempt to see her father's face.

"You had that for breakfast."

"'Nother waffle" she said seriously, looking right into his eyes with a pleading look.

"Yes ma'am" Tony said, giving in and blowing a raspburry on her cheek, smiling when she giggled. Who said you couldnt have waffles for every meal every once and a while? Tony called the same restaurant he called earlier that day for breakfast, and ordered a plane waffle for Maria. He also ordered a waffle for himself, because hey, why not? When the food arrived, Tony and Maria were in the workshop. Tony working on a car, and Maria playing with some holograms, the usual rock music playing as background noise. Tony kept the music on a lower volume for Maria, but it was still pretty loud. It surprised him that the volume never seemed to bother her.

"Sir, your food has arrived" said Jarvis, shutting of the music as he spoke.

"Daddy, waffles!" Maria said, running over to Tony. He picked her up and walked out of the workshop, and up the stairs. Usually he would let Maria walk herself, but she climbed stairs slow, and he didnt want to keep the man at the door waiting. When the food was all payed for, they sat down and ate. Tony had to keep telling Maria to eat slower, since she was eating fast so she could go play again. Tony took a bite of his waffle, then set his fork down and picked up his phone.

'I never thought I'd say this, but Im getting sick of take out' he typed, then sent the text to Pepper. This was the third day in a row they had ordered take out. Usually when they ran out of food Pepper would go grocery shopping, but she had been held up with meetings the past few days and didnt have time. He continued eating, and a moment later he recieved a reply.

'You know, you could help me out and do the grocery shopping for yourself.'

'Its your job Miss Potts.'

'I dont believe grocery shopping was in the job description, Mr. Stark.'

'Fine, I'll go' Tony typed back in defeat.

'I'll send you a list when Im done with this meeting' Pepper replied.

Tony put his phone in his pocket and stood up.

"Time to wrap things up Ria, we're going grocery shopping."

"Why?"

"Because Pepper cant do it."

"Why?"

"Because shes busy at work."

"Why?" Tony played along with her questions as he walked around and picked her up out of her chair. He flipped her around so she was hanging upside down, and she laughed.

"Because she needs money" he replied, settin Maria down right-side-up.

"Why?"

"Because shes not with me" Tony said, semi-joking.

"Why?"

"Good question." Pepper was probably the closest thing to family Tony had other than Maria, Rhodey, and Obadiah. They flirted all the time, but that was their thing. It wasnt serious. Tony was conflicted a bit, but mainly ignored it. He had slept with all his previous assistants, except Pepper. It was probably just sexual frustration.

"Shes my assistant" Tony added. He pointed to the door, and Maria started to run in that direction. Tony followed behind her, leaving all the dishes and food out. Maria reached the door before him, and was standing on her tippy toes trying to reach the door nob.

"Maria, you gotta put shoes on first" said Tony, picking her up and sitting her on the floor. He sat down infront of her and helped her tie her shoes, before putting on his own. They both stood up, and Maria grabbed Tony's hand, dragging him out the door. He reached over her head and twisted the door nob, then followed Maria out.

"Lock down the house, J" Tony threw over his shoulder, before closing the door behind them.

Tony had been to the grocery store a grand total of about two times since... Since forever. He vaguely remembered where it was, but it probably took longer than it should to get there. He drove through the parking lot, past all the parking spaces, and pulled up right outside the door. He turned the car off and got out, walking around to open the door for Maria, who could now unbuckle her carseat by herself. They walked into the grocery store, and Maria immediatly let go of Tony's hand and ran away, something catching her eye. Tony followed her over to where she now stood, staring at a shopping cart. Not just a shopping cart, but one with a car on the front that Maria had already climbed inside of.

"Really? Youre gonna make me push this around?" asked Tony, leaning down a bit to look at Maria. Maria nodded viciously.

"Dont hurt yourself" said Tony, before he walked around to the handle on the shopping cart.

"Pepper so owes me." They started wandering through the store, looking for anything they might need. In all honesty, Tony had no idea what he doing. As they wandered, people they passed would stare. They knew who he was. They also knew that it was rare to find him in a grocery store with a three year old. Tony made a mental note to cover up a bit more next time they went out, to avoid the attention. Normal, he would eat up all the attention, but he had Maria with him. He wanted Maria to be left alone.

Finally they ended up in a cereal aisle. Something both Tony and Maria had knowledge on.

"Get out" Tony said to Maria, as he pulled the cart back and forth, making Maria sway around. He smiled as she laughed inside the little car.

"What kind of cereal do you want?" he asked her after he stopped moving the cart, and she had climbed out. Tony watched Maria walk through the aisle, carefully looking at all the different cereals. She ended up picking a box on the shelf closest to the floor. She walked over to Tony and handed it to him. It was probably the most colorful box in the whole aisle, and it contained Fruity Pebbles.

"Is this your final decision?" Tony asked, an amused expression on his face. Maria seemed to think about it, before nodding.

"Yeah." Tony threw the box in the cart, and they started walking out of the aisle, but then stopped. Tony reached up and grabbed another box of cereal. He showed it to Maria.

"Personally, I like Cookie Crisp." Maria took in the picture on the box. There was a cartoon wolf surrounded by a bunch of cookies.

"Cookies in cereal?" Maria questioned. Tony laughed.

"Yup! You can try it when we get home." He threw the box in the cart, and started walking again.

"Wait!" Maria yelled, and Tony stopped. She ran infront of the cart and climbed back into the little car.

"You ready?" Tony asked.

"Go!" Maria confirmed. Tony pushed the cart to the end of the aisle. As he was turning the cart around the corner, he hit into someone elses cart, and Maria yelled.

"You alright?" he asked Maria and then he looked up to the woman who was pushing the other cart. "Sorry. Im new to this."

"Oh, its alright!" said the woman, but she realized Tony wasnt looking at her anymore, he was looking down through the opening of the little car on the front of his cart, and backing up out of the collision.

"Youre Tony Stark!" said the woman, trying to keep him from leaving.

"I am? Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me" Tony replied sarcastically. It was moments like this where he really wished he wasnt well known.

"Whos this little cutie?" she asked, leaning down a bit to see Maria inside of the car. Maria wasnt usually ever shy, she was actually quite outgoing, but luckily she picked this moment to look down and inspect her hands instead of giving her life story. The press didnt know Tony had a daughter. He tried his hardest to keep her out of the lime light. He tried not to take her to busy places, and if he did, he would lie about who the little girl was. Just like he was right now.

"Uh, shes my assistant's neice. Pepper had a meeting to go to, so Im stuck babysitting."

"Oh" the woman replied. "Well shes adorable." Tony tried to hide the proud smirk that was threatening to appear on his lips. Of course she was adorable. She was his daughter. Just then, Tony's phone 'pinged', indicating he got a text message. He took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. It was the grocery list from Pepper. Finally. Now they could get what they needed and get out. And get away from this woman, who was obviously trying to get Tony to be interested in her.

"Well" said Tony holding up his phone. "Gotta go." He backed up the cart and swerved around the woman.

"It was nice to meet you Mr. Stark!" she called after him, but he ignored her. After about two hours, Tony and Maria had finally found everything on Pepper's list. They made their way to the check out line, and Tony started unloading the contents in the cart onto the conveyer belt while the person infront of him was paying. When the young cashier, who was maybe in his twenties like Tony, turned away from the customer paying and saw Tony, his eyes went wide.

"Oh my god!" he exlaimed, and Tony put on a fake smile. The man infront of Tony cleared his throat, and the cashier jumped and turned back to him, handing him his bags.

"Have a nice day" the cashier said quickly, before turning back to Tony. "Tony Stark is in my line!"

"Yeah, um..." Tony started, then looked at the cashier's name tag. "Gary? Listen, Gary, Im kinda in a hurry, so if we could just..." Tony stopped talking and gestured to all his groceries.

"Oh! Yeah! Of course" said Gary, before scanning Tony's groceries, putting them in bags, and placing them back in Tony's cart. Tony looked down at Maria, and Gary started to talk again.

"Im surprised to see you here! Is Ms. Potts okay?" At the mention of Pepper, Tony looked back to Gary.

"You know her?"

"Yeah! Well, no. Kinda. Shes here alot."

"Oh. Well Ms. Potts is fine. Shes just busy, and Im out of food." Gary seemed completely fasinated with the little bit of information he recieved on Tony and Pepper's lives. Tony shook his head and took out his wallet. He was ready to leave.

"Your total will be-" Gary started, but Tony cut him off, by slapping a large wad of cash on the counter. "Keep the change" he said, before shoving his wallet back in his pocket and pushing the cart away.

"We're never doing that again, Maria" he said, and Maria laughed. Tony couldnt help but join in.

* * *

Author's note-

Woahhh I updated! Haha! Sorry for the incredibly long wait. By the way, did anyone notice my Gary reference? Ive seen Iron Man 3 4 times haha. Im obsessed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

Enjoyy :)

* * *

Set durring the first Iron Man movie

Pepper has been working for Tony for 12 years

Maria is 14 years old

* * *

Tony looked up from the car part he was holding.

"Give me an exploded view" he mumbled to Jarvis. He was kneeling next to his hot rod, trying to fix it up, with his usual rock music blaring.

"The compression in cylinder three appears to be low" replied the AI.

"Log that" said Tony, looking back down.

Maria walked down the stairs to her father's workshop. When she reached the glass door, she saw Tony kneeling next to one of his cars, his back to the door. An evil smile krept onto Maria's face as she typed in her code on the glass door. The door opened and she walked in, Tony never noticing. She walked up to him quietly, then paused. The song that was playing was Thunderstruck by ACDC, one of Maria's favorite songs. The song continued, and worked perfectly with what she was about to do.

_Youve been_

Maria hovered her hands over Tony's shoulders.

_Thunderstruck!_

She grabbed Tony's shoulders and he jumped.

"Jesus!" he exclaimed turning his head to look at her. Maria started laughing, and after a moment of trying not too, Tony started laughing as well.

"You scared the hell out of me."

"I noticed" Maria replied, still laughing as she jumped into the drivers seat of the car. She leaned over the car door to see what her father was tinkering with.

"So what are you doing?" she asked him. Tony blew off that question, and asked his own.

"What time is it?"

"I dont know, around eight."

"Eight" Tony repeated. "Shouldnt you be at school?"

"I wanted to say goodbye to you" Maria replied, in the sweetest voice she could. Tony and Rhodey were going to Afghanistan today for a weapons demonstration. Tony looked up at her, their deep brown eyes meeting.

"One day wont kill me. Im way ahead" she added, her voice back to normal. Maria was in her last year of highschool, and was head of her class. She skipped grades here and there, just like her father had, because she was so smart.

"Okay" said Tony, looking back down at what he was doing. "Come here, I need your help for a sec." Maria slid over to the passenger seat of the car and opened the door. She climbed out and walked around the car to sit on the floor next to Tony. He explained to her what he was doing, and they got busy. About an hour later, they were still hunched over the car when the music turned off. Maria turned her head and saw it was because Pepper had entered the room.

"Please dont turn down my music" said Tony, not looking up. Pepper finished up the conversation she was having on the phone, then walked towards the hot rod where Tony and Maria were.

"Youre supposed to be at school right now" Pepper said, looking at Maria. She then looked at Tony. "And you are suppose to be half way around the world!"

"How'd she take it?" Tony asked, ignoring the fact that Pepper was scolding him.

"Like a champ" Pepper replied. Maria rolled her eyes and kept out of the conversation. They were talking about the girl Tony had a one night stand with last night. Christine Everhart, a reporter from Vanity Fair.

"Why you trying to hustle me out of here?" Tony asked, still tinkering with the car.

"Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago."

"Thats funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there."

"Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple of things before I get you out the door."

"Doesnt it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?" Tony said, ignoring Pepper. He stood and grabbed a rag, then leaned against the car facing Pepper, wiping the greese of his hands.

"Lary called, hes got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock 'In the Springs'. Do you want it? Yes or no?"

"Is it a good representation of his spring period?" asked Tony.

"No, uh actually the Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked" Pepper explained.

"Not spring, like the season" Maria said over her shoulder. She was still tinkering with the car.

"So?" Tony questioned.

"I think its a fair example" Pepper started. "But I think its incredibly over priced."

"I need it. Buy it. Store it" said Tony, as he set down his rag and stood up. Maria laughed. Tony started to walk over to the mini kitchen area set up on the other side of the workshop, and Pepper followed. She wasnt done yet.

"The MIT commencement speech-"

"Is in June" Tony interupted. "Please, dont harangue me about stuff thats way, way down-"

"Well theyre haranguing me, so Im going to say yes." Pepper opened a folder with muiltiple papers in it.

"I need you to sign this before you get on the plane." Tony turned to face her, a small cup of coffee in his hand.

"What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you have plans?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"I dont like it when you have plans."

"Im allowed to have plans on my birthday."

"Its your birthday?"

"Yes" said Pepper. She wasnt surprised he forgot.

"Happy birthday Pepper!" Maria called to her from her spot by the hot rod. Just because she wasnt actively involved in the conversation, doesnt mean she wasnt listening.

"Thank you."

"I knew that" said Tony, trying to cover up the fact that he forgot his assistant of 12 years' birthday. "Already?"

"Yeah, isnt that strange? Its the same day as last year."

"Well, get yourself something nice from me."

"I already did." Tony smiled a boyish smile.

"And?"

"It was very nice. Very tasteful. Thank, you Mr. Stark."

"Youre welcome, Ms. Potts." Pepper smiled, and tappe the edge of Tony's coffee cup with the tip of her pen. Tony chugged it till it was empty, then handed it to Pepper.

"Lets do this" he said, as he walked past Pepper and towards the door to leave the garage. Maria stood up when she saw her dad leave, and caught Pepper before she could leave as well.

"I didnt forget about you. I have your gift, I'll give it to you once dad leaves."

"Maria, you didnt have to" said Pepper, a smile on her face. Atleast one Stark remembered her birthday.

"You wont say that once you see what I go you" Maria said, smug. They both went upstairs, Maria going into Tony's room and sitting on his bed while he packed, and Pepper talking to Happy in the living room. Pepper had called Happy to come over right before she went down into the garage, and he had just arrived. He was going to be driving Tony to catch his plane. After 10 minutes, Tony and Maria came into the living room. Each carried a suitcase, although they were both for Tony.

"Hey Happy" Maria greeted. Happy was only able to get out a quick 'hi' before Tony started talking.

"Wanna race?"

"What?" Happy replied, confused.

"You in the Rolls Royce, me in my old Audi. I worked on the engine, and I wanna test it out" Tony explained.

"Okay" Happy agreed, taking the suitcase Maria was holding and heading towards the door. Maria and Pepper followed Tony and Happy out the door, and hung pack while they put both suitcases into the Rolls Royce. Tony threw Happy the keys to the Audi.

"You wanna go get that for me?"

"Sure thing, Boss" Happy replied, and he started for the garage. Tony walked over to Maria and Pepper, and hugged Maria.

"Bye dad" Maria said quietly. She was used to Tony leaving for weapons demonstrations, but not like this. He was going into an active war zone, and that made her nervous.

"Ill be back tomarrow" Tony said into her hair.

"I know. Just be safe."

"Always am" he said, pulling back after hearing Happy pull up his Audi. He took a step back, and looked at Pepper.

"Bye" he said simply.

"Bye Tony."

'Akward' though Maria. Maria, along with everyone else in the world, agreed that Tony and Pepper were meant for each other. Its been 12 years. They need to get their crap together.

"You ready?" said Happy, breaking up the akwardness. Tony cleared his throat.

"Uh, yeah. Yup." They each climbed into the driver seat of their cars. Tony rolled down the window and looked at Maria.

"Love ya, kid."

"Love you" Maria replied.

"You know, we need a starter" said Tony, and Maria smiled. She walked inbetween the cars, and knocked on Happy's window. She pointed down, and Happy rolled down his window. She positioned herself so she was an equal distance inbetween both cars, and raised her arms in the air.

"Okay! On your mark!" They both revved their engines. "Get set! Go!" She threw her arms down, using them as a flag. Both cars took off down the driveway, kicking up dust. Maria laughed. She had no idea that would be that last time she would see her father for 3 months.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

**Author's note at the end**

Enjoyy :)

Maria sat outside the house on the huge cliff overlooking the ocean. She stared at it blankly, watching the sun reflect off waves. Her dad had been gone for three months, and she had been a wreck. She mainly spent her time on the cliff's edge, and in her father's workshop. She went to school occasionally, but skipped out most days. Pepper didnt pressure her. As Maria had said the day Tony left, she was ahead anyways. Maria had been home alone all day. Pepper, who had moved into the guest room to take care of Maria, had gone into SI earlier that morning. She was still trying to keep the company running, pretending Tony was only just on vacation. Most people found it useless. Tony was considered dead already. No one had hope. Except the few people who tolerated Tony, including Pepper, Maria, and Rhodey. Obadiah strangely didnt seem too phased by Tony's absence. Maria's stomach rumbled, and she realized it must be around lunchtime. When Pepper had left, Maria had immediatly gone out to the cliff. She hadnt gone inside at all to eat anything. After a few minutes, Maria heard footsteps approaching her. She kept staring at the water. There was no need to turn around, she knew who it was.

"Hey" said Pepper, sitting down next to Maria. She was barefoot. She must have taken her heels off inside before she came out.

"Hey" Maria said back without emotion.

"Its beautiful out here, I see why your out here all the time."

"Yeah." Maria didnt feel like talking. After a moment of silence, Maria's stomach growled again. Pepper took her eyes off the ocean to look at Maria.

"Have you eaten anything at all today?"

"No."

"I told Jarvis to remind you to eat."

"Yeah, well I havent been inside since you left, so..." Maria said. She really was hungry.

"Come on" said Pepper. "Ill make you lunch." Pepper stood up and started walking towards the house. Maria sighed and stood up as well, following Pepper. Once inside, they moved to the kitchen. Maria sat at a stool at the island while Pepper opened the fridge.

"What if I make you a grilled cheese?" she offered.

"Sounds good" said Maria. She hopped off her stool, and started to walk out of the kitchen. "Im gonna go down to the garage."

"Okay" said Pepper. Down in the workshop, Maria sat in the hot rod her and he dad had been working on the day he left. She spun herself around so she was sitting crosslegged, backwards. Thats when she noticed a blinking red light on one of Tony's computers. She climbed out of the car, and walked over to the moniter. It was a voicemail.

"Jarvis" Maria spoke up. "Whos that voicemail from?"

"Colonel Rhodes" the AI immediatly replied. "And I have been informed by Miss Potts to remind you to eat something."

"Play the message" Maria instructed, ignoring Jarvis' late reminder. Rhodey called everyonce and a while to check up on her and Pepper. He would even visit and stay a couple days if he could. Maria sat down in the spinny desk chair, and the voicemail started to play.

"Hey guys" came Rhodey's voice, then he paused. There was a loud background noise, and it was a bit hard to hear what he was saying next, but she managed.

"We've got him. We found Tony" Rhodey announced, a mixture of relief and excitement in his voice. Maria covered her mouth, her eyes wide, tears threatening to spill over. Rhodey's message continued.

"He's okay, just a little dehydrated and shaky. Some cuts and bruises. He's got an arm wound, but nothing fatal. And um..." Rhodey hesitated, then changed what he was going to say. "We'll be landing this afternoon around 4 on base. I called, and they'll let you two in. See you there."

She listened to the message again, not beleiving what she heard. But it was true. Rhodey found her dad.

"Pepper!" Maria screamed. "Jarvis, when did Rhodey leave this message?"

"9:13am" Jarvis replied. Thats around the time Pepper had left in the morning, Maria must have already been outside. If only she had stayed inside a bit longer, she could have saved herself hours of greiving. Her dad was okay. He was coming home.

"Pepper!" Maria screamed again, leaving the garage and running up the stairs.

"Pepper!" she yelled, as she neared the kitchen.

"What?" Pepper questioned, worried because of Maria's yelling. "Whats wrong?"

"They found dad. Hes coming home!" Maria yelled. And thats when she finally broke down. She hugged Pepper, sobbing. The amount of releif she felt was overwhelming.

"Ohmigod" Pepper whispered. Maria could feel Pepper shaking, and knew she was crying as well. Maria pulled back, wiping her eyes, a smile on her face.

"Theyre landing at 4 at the base, him and Rhodey. Lets go."

"Alright!" Pepper agreed, and they hurried for the door. Pepper called Happy and they put on their shoes as they waited for him to arrive. He arrived within minutes, and just as they were about to walk out the door, the smell hit Pepper.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, running over to the stove where she had been making Maria's grilled cheese. It was now incredibly burnt.

"Come on Pepper!" yelled Maria from the door. Pepper just turned off the stove and left the sandwhich. She'd deal with it later. They got into the car and Happy drove to the base. It took them about an hour, but they finally made it to the designated landing spot for the plane Tony was on. Maria got out as soon as Happy stopped the car. She stood outside the drivers side of the car, and Pepper rolled down the window in the back seat. They hadnt payed attention to the time when they left, they had been so caught up in the news of Tony being found.

"Its only 2:10, Ria. We got some time."

"Maybe they'll be early" Maria suggested, being optimistic.

"What time are they supposed to land?" asked Happy, and Pepper filled him in on what Maria said was on the voicemail. After a while of standing outside the car, Maria decided to sit on the ground. Pepper stayed in the car, but kept her window rolled down, and Happy rolled his down as well. The three talked every once and a while. About Tony coming home, about what condition he'll be in, about what might have happened to him, about what they'll do once they get back home, about memories they had of Tony. About anything that had to do with Tony. Every little noise Maria heard, she would look in the sky expecting to see the plane that held her father. Each time she was faced with dissappointment.

"What time is it?" asked Maria. Happy looked at the clock on the radio, then back out the window.

"4:01."

"Theyre late" Maria grumbled, and the two inside the car laughed.

"Theyll be here any minute" said Pepper, and she was right. A few minutes later the plane came into view, and Maria jumped up. Pepper got out of the car and stood by Maria. The plane touched down quickly, and a large ramp opened up. Maria ran forward, almost tge the base of the ramp, and Pepper walked forward to stand about 20 feet behind Maria. Rhodey stood at the top of the ramp, next to none other than Tony Stark. Tony was in a wheelchair, which conserned Maria. Had Rhodey left something out in his message? But before she had time to think about it too much, Rhodey helped Tony stand up. He was wearing a suit, they must have cleaned him up on the plane. His hair was long, but his facial hair seemed to be newly shaved into its usual style. he had a sling holding one arm, and a couple cuts on his face, but other than that he seemed perfectly fine. Maria could see Tony point to the ambulance parked near the plane, and could faintly hear him say to Rhodey, "Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of 'em." It all seemed like a dream. He was really, truly back. He was alive. Tony and Rhodey made it to the bottom of the ramp, where Rhodey went turned towards the ambulance, but Tony walked to Maria. He walked straight up to her and grabbed her in a hug with the arm not in the sling, not hesitating or pausing at all. Maria hung onto him for dear life, and started shaking. Tony squeazed her tighter.

"Dont cry, Im fine" he said. He was never that great in the comfort department. He pulled back, and looked Maria over. He took in her red, puffy eyes, and made a face. He didnt like when she cried. It was rare, but when she did it made him feel a mixture of protectiveness and akwardness. He stood up straighter, and tilted his head back a bit.

"Did you get taller?" he asked, and Maria laughed.

"Maybe" she said. Tony realized that was the first thing he had heard her say in 3 months.

"God I missed you" he said simply, as he wrapped his good arm around Maria's shoulder and they made thier way towards Pepper.

"Your eyes are red" he observed. She was crying too? Again, he felt the akwardness and protectiveness. He had alot of time to think about everything in the cave. Like him and Pepper. Yinsen's words rang in his ears. 'So youre a man who has everything, and nothing.'

"Tears for your long lost boss?" he asked her.

"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting" Pepper replied. It was just like before. They were both hiding their emotions. 'What a surprise' Maria thought, sarcastically.

"Yeah. Vacations over" said Tony, but everyone knew that the past 3 months had been anything but a vacation. The 3 of them made their way over to the car where Happy was waiting.

"Where to, Sir?" asked Happy, after everyone was settled in the car. Tony sat with Maria on his left and Pepper on his right.

"Take us to the hospital please, Happy" said Pepper.

"No" Tony objected.

"No?"

"Dad, you have to go to the hospital" said Maria.

"I dont have to do anything" Tony said, looking forward out the windsheild. "Ive been in captivity for 3 months. There are 2 things I want to do. First, I want an American cheesburger. And the other" he paused, and it was silent for a moment.

"That enough of that" said Pepper dismissively.

"Its not what you think" said Tony, now looking at Pepper. "I want you to call for a press conference."

"Call for a press conference? What on earth for?" Tony ignored her.

"Hogan, drive. Cheesburger first." Maria looked at Tony, then out the window smiling. He was back.

After a quick stop at Burger King, where Maria had gotten a burger as well since she hadnt eaten all day, and a rather chaotic press conference, they were back home. Tony walked through the hall towards his bedroom, but paused when he caught sight of the guest bedroom. Pepper had left the door open, and Tony could clearly see all her stuff inside. He turned to look at Pepper, who was standing in the living room. She had been watching him, so he didnt need to say anything. He just smirked and pointed to the room.

"Ill get all that out of there. I just didnt want Maria to be alone" she explained.

"Thanks" Tony said, before continuing to his bedroom. He stripped the suit and threw on some more comfortable clothes, then headed down to the garage. Maria, who had been sitting on the couch, followed him. Tony sat infront of one of his computers, and Maria stood behind the computer, looking at him.

"Is there something on my face?" Tony asked, looking up at her.

"Down a bit further" she said, pointing to the glowing blue circle on his chest that she could see through his tshirt. "Whats that?"

"Um... Its an electromagnet." Maria felt sick. Maybe thats what Rhodey was hestant to tell them in his voicemail. What had they done to him in Afghanistan? She didnt know for sure, but it looked like the electromagnet was inside of him. "Its keeping shrapnol from reaching my heart" Tony explained.

"Why didnt they just take it out?" Maria asked.

"They did. Well, most if it. They couldnt get to some of it, so a guy named Yinsen created this." He lifted up his shirt so Maria could actually see it. It was actually pretty cool. But she had one question that she needed answered.

"Does it hurt?"

"Nope." Maria visibly relaxed. She walked around Tony's desk to get a closer look.

"It almost looks like-"

"What, the arc reactor?" Tony interupted.

"Yeah."

"Yinsen had the magnet hooked up to a car battery. I figured it would be easier if I just miniaturized the reactor."

"I didnt know that was possible" Maria marveled.

"Neither did I" admitted Tony. Now that she knew it didnt hurt him and he was okay, Maria found the science of it intriguing.

"What can it generate?"

"3 gigajoules per second."

"Wow... That could run your heart for..." Maria paused to think. "At least like 50 life times!"

"It could have, yeah" said Tony.

"Could have?" Maria questioned, confused.

"Yeah, this ones good as nothing. I gotta make a new one."

"Why?" Maria asked. She was getting worried.

"You never asked me how I got out" Tony pointed out with a proud smirk. He told Maria bits and pieces of what happened in the cave, not getting into full detail. To be honest, the thought that he was still in the cave that morning made him feel sick. Maria listened quietly, not pressuring him into more details. She could tell he didnt like talking about it, and she didnt really like hearing about it. Until he started talking about the metal suit he made to escape.

"Thats bad ass!" said Maria.

"I know" Tony agreed. He still had his ego. They spent the rest of the day locked down in the workshop, working on a new miniaturized arc reactor for Tony. It took Pepper all she had to get them to come up for dinner. They ate take out that wa delivered from Tony's favorite restaurant, and then Pepper announced she had to leave. Tony and Maria followed her to the door.

"You should just spend the night tonight" Maria insisted. "All your stuff is here."

"I really need to get back to my place" said Pepper. "Ill collect all my stuff from the guest room tomarrow" she said to Tony, back to being professional.

"Okay" Tony agreed. Maria hugged Pepper. After living with Pepper for 3 months, it was going to be weird without her. Even though Pepper was around every day anyways, it wasnt like she spent the night or anything.

"See you tomarrow" said Maria as they pulled apart.

"Of course" said Pepper with a smile. She turned to Tony.

"Im glad youre back, Mr. Stark."

"Me too, Miss Potts" said Tony, and then Pepper opened the door to leave.

"Bye Pepper" said Maria as she walked over to the couch.

"Bye" Pepper replied. She went to step out the door but Tony grabbed her wrist.

"Hey. Pepper. Thanks for taking care of Maria, and the company, and stuff" he said sincerely. Tony Stark was growing soft. Pepper smiled.

"Thanks for staying alive, Tony" she said, then she walked out the door and Tony closed it behind her. Tony sighed, then turned around.

"Im going to bed" he announced, walking towards Maria. "I havent gotten a decent nights sleep in a couple months."

"Okay" said Maria. She stood up and followed her dad into the hallway that held their bedrooms. Before Tony entered his bedroom, Maria hugged him.

"I love you, dad." Tony squeazed her.

"I love you too, kid" he said. They stood in the hall hugging for a moment, then finally broke apart and went to bed. They each fell asleep almost immediatly. It had been a long day. A long 3 months. Around midnight, though, Maria was startled awake by the sound of yelling. She layed there for a moment, slightly confused until she heard the yelling again. It all hit her. Her dad was here.

"Dad?" she called, sitting up in bed. She got up and felt her way through the dark room to the door. She walked to Tony's room, and slowly opened the door. The lamp next to his bed was on, and he was sitting up with his knees up and his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.

"Dad?" Maria said quietly, walking into his room. "Are you okay?" She sat on the edge of his bed, watching him breath heavily. He rubbed his face, then looked at Maria.

"Yeah" he said, breathless.

"Dont lie."

"I had a nightmare" Tony finally admitted after a moment. "No big deal. Go back to bed." Maria had never seen Tony this vulnerable. It scared her.

"Can I sleep in here?" she asked. Instead of answering out loud, he just turned his light off and pulled her under the blankets with him. He layed on his back with his arm around Maria. She layed on her side with her head on his shoulder and one arm on his chest. She put her hand over the reactor to cover the light, and the both fell into a deep, nightmare-less, sleep.

* * *

Author's note-

Okay, so thank you to Avengerlicious for pointing out a mistake Ive made. In chapter 4 I said Rhodey found out about Maria on the internet, but then in a later chapter I said Tony kept Maria a secret from the press. So I went back and edited chapter 4, so it now says Obadiah told Rhodey about Maria. A little back story, Obadiah called Tony after not hearing from him for a few days, and thats how Obie found out. Sorry I screwed that up! Thanks for pointing it out!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing Marvel related!

**Author's note at the end**

Enjoyy :)

* * *

Takes place durring Iron Man 2

Maria is 15 years old, and goes to MIT, but is home on vacation

* * *

Maria was sitting on the floor in her room doing homework, and was occasionally hearing big bangs from the workshop. Nothing new there. But it started to concern her when the sound of a jack hammer seemed to be coming from the living room. Maria set down her pencil and stood up. She opened her door and stepped into the hallway, and the noise got louder. She walked down the hallway and entered the living room, and sure enough, Tony was there using a jack hammer. There was a pile of rubble on the floor surrounding where he was drilling, and a cart of tools off to the side.

"What are you doing?" Maria yelled over the noise. Tony glanced back, then looked down at the jack hammer and turned it off. He carelessly let it drop to the floor as he turned back to Maria. He took off the safety glasses he was wearing, and crossed his arms.

"Remodeling" he answered simply.

"Can I ask you why remodeling includes using a jack hammer in the living room?"

"Im trying to get to the power box under the floor" Tony explained. Maria looked around him, and to the hole in the floor. A piece of metal inside the hole caught her eye. She grabbed a rag from Tony's cart, and then walked over and sat by the hole. She started pushing rubble aside, and wiped the dust off the large metal rectangle in the hole with the rag.

"You mean this?" Maria questioned, looking up at Tony.

"Yup" he replied, then he grabbed a screwdriver off the cart and took a seat on the floor next to Maria. The metal rectangle was the cover to the power box, and Tony unscrewed it so he could get a look inside. Maria stood and walked over to Tony's cart, looking at all the tools he had, trying to figure out what he was up to. She looked up, and saw 2 men in suits standing outside the window.

"Um... Who are they?" she asked, pointing to them. Tony glanced up, and his gaze followed where her finger was pointing.

"Oh, them?" he said, looking back down to the box. "Security. Pepper gave Happy the day off."

"I dont remember Happy ever standing watch."

"Yeah, well, he does. You just dont see him." Maria just stared at him. Happy doesnt stand gaurd. She knew that for a fact.

"Grab me those cables, will you?" Tony asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts. Maria looked at the cart, seeing nothing but tools. She leaned back a bit and saw a group of cables sitting on the floor in a box behind the cart. She took them out of the box and carried them over to Tony.

"So why are you doing this?" she questioned, dropping the cables on the floor next to him.

"Im um, creating a new element" he answered slowly, deep in thought. "Re-creating" he corrected himself after a moment.

"What for?" Maria asked. Tony grabbed a cable and started to attatch it to something in the box, and Maria waited patiently for him to answer. He was taking too long to answer, which let Maria know something was up.

"Dad. Why are you making a new element?" she asked, her tone serious. Tony stopped fiddling with the cable and looked up at her.

"To replace the paladium in this" he said, drumming his fingers on the arc reactor in his chest. He grabbed another cable, and started attatching it in the power box just like he had with the other. "Paladium poisoning."

"Im assuming thats the cause for this" Maria said, running a finger over the blue lines on her father's neck.

"Dont assume" he said. "It makes an ass out of you and me."

"But you know Im right. And thats also why you keep getting sick" Maria said, starting to put 2 and 2 together. Tony had the weird blue lines on his neck, which she had noticed more than once before this moment. He randomly got sick, and looked run down all the time. And for the past couple weeks, he was being completely reckless. The race in Monaco was proof. The paladium in the reactor was poisoning him. He was dying.

"The thing keeping you alive is also killing you" she stated. Tony rubbed his eyes with the back of his wrist, and looked up at her. Maria's thoughts went back to the men in suits outside, and her father's obvious lie about Happy. Were they some kind of hospice or something? Pretending to be body gaurds, but really just waiting for him to keel over and die?

"Those guys outside..."

"Im under house arrest. Technically. Theyre from SHIELD. Theyre supposed to be making sure I dont leave until I 'solve the riddle of my heart'" Tony explained, using air quotes when quoting Nick Fury. He looked out the window at the two men. "Theyre not doing a good job though. I left earlier. No one tried to stop me."

"So SHIELD got to know that youre dying? But I didnt? Your own daughter?" Maria said, alot of emotion building up.

"Hey, they approached me. Okay? Theyre the last people I would have gone to."

"But thats the thing. You werent gonna go to anyone. You were gonna let yourself die, when we could have tried to help you!" Maria exclaimed, her voice shaking.

"Maria" Tony said, trying to calm her down. He was still sitting on the floor, and she was still standing above him.

"Yeah, so you know what youre doing. Youre Iron Man. Youre a genious. That doesnt mean you should go through this on your own. It doesnt mean I couldnt help you" she said, her voice going to almost a whisper by her last words. Tony finally stood up, and pulled her into his arms.

"Hey, Im still here okay?" he said, then he pulled back and held her shoulders, looking into her eyes. "Im sorry. I should have told you. But now you know. So you gonna help me? Im kinda on the clock here."

"No, I think you got it" said Maria. She looked back towards the living room. "Ill just be over there."

"What? You just-"

"Dad" Maria said, a small smirk on her face. "Im kidding."

"Oh. I knew that" Tony lied. He took his hands off Maria's shoulders and let them hit his legs.

"So you gonna show me what exactly youre doing?" asked Maria. Tony nodded.

"Follow me" he said, and he led her down to the basement to show her the model of the city marked 'The Key to the Future'.

"So when you said re-discovering..."

"I meant it. Dad already had this figured out" Tony said, finishing Maria's sentence.

"So youre building a particle accelerator."

"Yup."

"Okay, lets do this!" said Maria, and the two continued to destroy the house in an attempt to synthesize Howard Stark's element. The element that would later save Tony. The element they would later name 'Bad-ass-ium'.

* * *

Authors note:

This chapter is noticable shorter than the rest. Sorry about that! And shoutout to Carolyn, the next chapter will take place durring Avengers! Which means Tony and Pepper will officially be together, which means more Pepperony! So be ready! Lol :P


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Disclamer: I own nothing Marvel related!

**Author's note at the end!

Enjoyy :)

* * *

Takes place right before Avengers

Maria is 16

Tony and Pepper have been together for a little over half a year

Maria has one more year of MIT left, and shes home on vacation.

* * *

Maria was laying on her stomach in bed, when she heard her bedroom door open, but ignored it. It was her birthday. Why werent they letting her sleep in?

"Happy birthday to you" sang Tony, leaning on the doorframe to her room. Maria groaned, and put a pillow over her head.

"Happy birthday to you" he continued, now starting to walk into her room. "Happy birthday dear Maria" he sang, lifting his arms in the air dramatically.

"Dad" Maria groaned.

"Happy birthday to you" he sang, finishing the song, just as the pillow that had been covering Maria's head hit him in the face. He caught the pillow as it dropped from his face, and smirked.

"That was beautiful" Maria said sarcastically, keeping her eyes closed. "Now go away." She rolled over to face away from Tony, and he dropped the pillow. He walked up to her bed, and pulled her blankets off her.

"Get up, Ive got the whole day planned" he said. She could hear the excitement in his voice. She didnt know whether that should also make her excited, or if it should make her worried. She started to sit up, and was just about to ask him, before she realized he had already left the room. She grabbed her phone off her nighstand and checked the time. 9am. Could be worse. She got out of bed, and ran her a fingers through her hair as she walked out of her bedroom and towards the kitchen. She stopped dead in her tracks at the end of the hallway, when she realized there was someone sitting on their living room couch.

"Rhodey?!" Maria exclaimed, now running into the room. Rhodey turned his head, smiled, and stood up to catch her hug.

"Hey! Ria! Happy birthday" he said, and they broke apart.

"What are you doing here?" Maria asked, a smile on her face. "I thought you werent due back for like 4 more days!"

"Who told you that?" Rhodey asked, and then they both turned to look at Tony, who was entering the living room from the kitchen after hearing Maria yell.

"What?" he questioned. "Okay. So I told you the wrong date. I did that purposly. Surprise!" Maria rolled her eyes, knowing her father didnt have this planned as a surprise. He genuinly got the date wrong.

"How long have you been here?" Maria asked, now facing Rhodey again. Before Rhodey could respond, Tony butted in.

"Theres a breakfast buffet in the kitchen. All your favorites."

"Go eat" said Rhodey, and Maria turned to go to the kitchen. As she was passing Tony, he grabbed her from behind and hugged her.

"Hey" he said, kissing the back of her head, as he was no longer able to reach the top of her head. She was almost as tall as him now. "Youre sixteen."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious" Maria said, trying to escape from his hold, but he only tightened his grip and smiled. After a moment of struggling, Tony suddenly let go.

"Is that a gray hair?" he said, grabbing a strand of her hair.

"Shut up" she said, slapping his hand away. She couldnt hold in her smile anymore as she walked towards the kitchen, Tony close behind.

"Wow" said Maria, as she took in the large amount of delicious looking food along the counter. She pointed to the setup.

"You didnt... Did you do all this?"

"Yeah! Well, no. I didnt cook. But I ordered!"

"Well thank you for ordering" she said, looking at all the food and smiling when she noticed the box of Cookie Crisp sitting next to a pile of pancakes. It had been her favorite for as long as she could remember. Tony had introduced it to her when she was little, after a hectic trip to the grocery store.

"It was my pleasure" said Tony, sitting down at the kitchen table. Two plates of food were already full and waiting at his seat. Maria looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I couldnt wait. I got my food, but then thought 'hey, I should really wait for Maria'. So, I woke you up." Maria laughed, shaking her head. She filled a plate with as much as she could, then made her way to the table. By then, Rhodey was sitting at the table as well.

"Youre not eating?" Maria asked, noticing the lack of food in front o him.

"I ate before I got here" Rhodey explained. "I wasnt expecting Tony to-"

"Feed my own child?" Tony interupted.

"Provide edible food" corrected Rhodey. Tony pretended to pout, and Maria laughed, taking a bite of her waffle. Just then, Rhodey's phone rang. He looked down at the screen and sighed.

"Ill be right back."

"Do you want some powdered sugar?" Tony asked Maria, who was starting to eat a chocolate chip pancake as Rhodey left the kitchen.

"Sure" said Maria, and Tony got up and walked around the island to the cupboards. He returned with a tub of powdered sugar.

"Tell me when to stop" he said, as he began to sprinkle powdered sugar on her pancake.

"'Kay" she said after a moment. As he brought the spoon away from her plate and back to the tub in his hands, he accidentally sprinkled some powdered sugar in her hair.

"Woops."

"What?" Maria asked, looking back at him.

"You got a little something..." he said pointing at her hair. She reached up and touched the top of her head, then brought her hand down to look at it. Sure enough, it was covered in powdered sugar.

"Hey!" she said, before reaching into the tub in Tony's hands and flicking some at him.

"Really? We're gonna go there?" he said, and an evil smile appeared on his face. "Its on." He threw a handful of the powdered sugar at Maria, and backed away quickly. Maria looked back at the kitchen table, looking for a weapon. There was a bottle of syrup in the center of the table, and she grabbed it. She flipped back the cap, and Tony's eyes widened.

"Oh no" he said, but it was too late. She squirted out the syrup, hitting her target. Tony threw some more powdered sugar at Maria, then set the tub down on the island.

"Gimme a hug" he said, as he opened his arms and started walking towards her.

"No!" exclaimed Maria, as she tried to run away from him. She didnt get away fast enough, and he grabbed her in a big, syrup-y, sticky hug. She pushed away from him and ran around the island, stealing the tub of powdered sugar. She threw as much as she could at Tony, as he made his way to the fridge. The powdered sugar was sticking to the syrup on his shirt. He grabbed a carton of eggs out of the fridge, and Maria braced herself. Four eggs in a row were thrown at her, only two actually hitting her as she tried to dodge them. The other two shattered and splattered on the floor.

"What are you doing?" said Rhodey, who was just re-entering the kitchen. Another egg was thrown, and he ducked to avoid being hit. He stood, and looked at Tony, who just smirked. Just then, they heard a gasp come from the front door, and they stopped their war.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Pepper, as she set her keys on the small table by the door."Look at this mess!" she said, approaching the kitchen.

"I tried to stop them" Rhodey claimed.

"No you didnt" said Maria. Tony rolled his eyes, and smiled as he walked up to Pepper, who didnt actually enter the kitchen in fear of getting her clean business outfit dirty.

"Hey" he said, trying to hug her. She took a step back, trying to hold in a laugh and be stern.

"No, dont get that all over me."

"Oh come on" he said, giving up on the hug, and grabbing her hands instead. He kissed her, and Maria and Rhodey looked at each other akwardly. Rhodey cleared his throat a few moments later, making the couple break apart. Pepper looked down, her cheeks turning a bit red. Tony just had his famous smirk plastered on his face.

"Im gonna take a shower" Maria announced.

"You should probably do the same" Pepper said to Tony.

"Care to join me?" Tony said suggestively.

"Ew" said Maria, who was almost to the hallway containing the bedrooms, but could still hear what was going on in the kitchen.

"Go" said Pepper pushing on Tony's chest. He kissed her again quickly, before following Maria. They each had their own bathroom attatched to their bedrooms. Pepper turned to Rhodey, who had already started to clean the kitchen. She leaned against a wall for support as she took off her heals, then entered the kitchen to help Rhodey clean.

"Mr. Stark has requested your presence in the garage" said Jarvis, as Maria was getting dressed. Her shower had taken much longer than usual. Getting syrup and eggs out of your hair is a harder task then it seems.

"Ill be down in a sec" Maria replied, throwing on an ACDC tshirt and a pair of jean shorts. She made her way to her bedroom door, and when she opened it and stepped out she ran right into Tony.

"Whats taking so long?" he asked. Maria laughed.

"Youre so impatient."

"Come on" said Tony, grabbing Maria's wrist and pulling her to the top of the stairs that led down to the workshop. He stopped.

"Okay. Close your eyes" he instructed, and Maria did as she was told.

"Are they closed?" asked Tony, but before Maria could answer he covered her eyes with his hands.

"Please dont run me into a wall" said Maria. Having her father lead her down a staircase while she was blind made her a bit nervous.

"Trust me" said Tony. He helped her get to the bottom of the stairs without a problem, and then they entered the workshop. He had left the door propped open with a random car part, specifically so he didnt have to take his hand away from her eyes to type in the code. After a bit of walking, they finally stopped.

"'Kay Ria Rae" he said, taking his hands away from her eyes. "Happy sixteenth birthday." They were facing Tony's wall of armours. Maria's eyes widened and Tony smiled, when her eyes landed on the last suit in line.

"Is that...?" she started, pointing to the blue and silver Iron Man suit.

"Its all yours" said Tony, confirming Maria's thoughts.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, turning around and hugging Tony.

"You like it?"

"Its awesome!"

"Good" said Tony, as they pulled apart. Maria walked up to the suit, looking at it as closely as possible through the display case.

"I didnt know if you would like the coloring" said Tony. "Pepper said it would be cool with us together, me being red and gold and you being blue and silver. Like fire and ice."

"Smart choice listening to Pepper. I love it" said Maria, before turning to look at Tony.

"Can I try it?"

"Jarvis, prep mark VIII" said Tony. "For now it'll be eight. Until we figure out a cool name for you."

"Works with me" said Maria, walking over to Tony's 'launch pad', ready to be suited up. When nothing happened, she looked back at Tony. He pointed to another one over to the right.

"Youve got your own one." Maria never stopped smiling as she walked over to her new launch pad, which was marked with her initials: MRS. The fact that Maria's initials were MRS was a joke between the two. It had become one of her nicknames. 'Me and the missus are going there' or 'Ive gotta check with the missus'. The nickname was only used around people who knew the joke. Nobody wanted it to get out in the press that Tony must have secretly gone out and gotten married. As soon as Maria stepped on the pad, the mechanical arms started to appear, encasing her in the metal suit. Maria looked over, and realized Tony was suiting up as well. Once they were both fully suited up, Tony started informing her on what her suit could do.

"Youve got weapons, doesnt mean you get to use them. Emergency only. Okay?"

"So I cant go on missions or anything with you?" Maria asked.

"No" Tony replied immediatly. He didnt want to put her in danger. But after seeing the dissapointment on Maria's face, he corrected himself. "We'll see."

"Okay" said Maria. That was good enough for her.

"Youve got Jarvis in there, so if you need anything, he can help. Or you can just talk to me, our suits are connected through him."

"So our suits are pretty much the same" Maria said.

"Yeah" said Tony. He flipped down his face plate. "Only, Im Iron Man" he said, before flying out the tunnel that lead from the garage out to the drive way. Maria rolled her eyes and flipped her faceplate down as well. She looked at all the different things the HUD displayed. She had put on Tony's helmet before, so she already knew what it looked like. Her's was exactly the same, only instead of saying Tony Stark in small letters in the corner, it said Maria Stark. She lifted off the ground, and hovered unsteadily.

"Dont let me crash, J" she said to Jarvis, before leaning forward and flying out the garage. Flying the suit was harder than Tony made it look. She finally made it out to the driveway, where she touched back down on the ground and almost fell over. Tony hovered in the air, watching her, trying not to laugh.

"You'll get used to it" he said. "Its easy once you get the hang of it. Come on." He took off flying up an away from the house, and Maria followed. After a few hours of flying around, Maria had it down and was having the time of her life.

"Jarvis, time" said Tony.

"4:23pm, Sir" replied the AI.

"Okay. Ria, we gotta head back."

"We dont -have- to" said Maria. She didnt ever want to stop flying.

"Ive got the whole day planned, remember?"

"Okay" Maria said reluctantly. It took them an hour to get home, following Jarvis' directions. They hadnt payed attention to where they were going at all. Once home, they let the robitic arms take off their suits.

"That was crazy!" exclaimed Maria. One of the many perks of being a Stark: you not only get a car when youre 16, you apparently get an Iron Man suit as well.

"You realize youre the best dad ever, right?"

"Of course" said Tony with a smile. He walked over to his desk. "Go put on something nice."

"I thought you liked ACDC" Maria joked, reffering to her tshirt.

"Plans" he said simply.

"I dont think you can top giving me the suit."

"Probably not" Tony agreed. "But I can get pretty close."

"Maybe" said Maria, and then she headed out of the room and up the stairs. She entered the living room, where Pepper was sitting on the couch with her laptop and a pile of papers doing work, and Rhodey was in a chair watching tv. Rhodey looked away from the tv when he heard Maria.

"Howd it go?"

"It was freaking awesome! I see why you kept the Mark II."

"War Machine" Rhodey corrected, and Maria laughed.

"Oh yeah. My bad."

"I left you something on your bed, Maria" said Pepper, looking up from her work.

"Oh, okay. Do either of you know what my dads planning?" asked Maria, and Rhodey and Pepper looked at each other as if trying to decide what to say. At the same time, Rhodey said yes, and Pepper said no.

"Okay then" said Maria. "Well Im gonna go change." She walked to her room, and sure enough, there was a box on her bed with a sticky note which read 'Happy Birthday Maria! -Pepper'. She opened the box, and inside sat a a beautiful black and blue dress. Maria pulled it out if the box and unfolded it to get a better look. She held it up to herself and looked in her full-lengthed mirror. The top half was black, and had straps like a tank top. Right under the bust line was a strip of black silk, which went all the way around. The bottom half of the dress was a dark royal blue, which flowed down to be a little bit above her knee. Pepper must hve known Tony's plan long enough to give her time to buy a dress. Maria wasnt one for dresses, but wore them occasionally for fancy events she had to go to with Tony. That was one of the problems with being a Stark. You had to look gorgeous every event you went to, and could never wear the same thing twice. The dress Maria just unboxed was perfect for her. It was edgy. Too bad that after tonight, she could pretty much never use it again. Maria stripped her shorts and shirt and put on the dress, then started looking through one of the drawers of her dresser. She pulled out a pair of spandex and put them on underneath the dress. She didnt like the feeling of not wearing pants, and the spandex made it bearable. She walked into her bathroom, cleaned herself up a bit, then sat on her bed to put on a pair of black Vans. She took one last look in her mirror, then made her way out of her room. It was pitch black.

"Jarvis" she said, putting a hand on the wall and feeling her way towards the living room. "Whats up with the lights? Turn 'em on." The lights turned on the same time Maria reached the living room.

"Surprise!" yelled so many voices, that Maria couldnt tell how many people were there. She blinked, eyes adjusting to the light, which was dimmed a bit, and realized the house was decorated with streamers and multicolored lights and baloons. Not only did she notice the decorations, but the people in the room. There were too many to count, but she could see the crowd included Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, some people from SI, abunch of other people Maria didnt know, and Maria's 'friends'. Most were a couple years older than her, and she didnt consider them real, true friends. She just knew them from MIT and Tony invited them. She had one close friend, though, who was 3 years older than her but was in alot of her classes, just because she was so advanced. His name was Peter Renner, and no, him and Maria were not dating. He was tall, and had dark brown hair and green eyes. Maria was closer to him than she had ever been with anyone, except of course Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy.

"Oh my god" Maria breathed, still standing at the edge of the living room. Tony walked up to her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He spoke into a michrophone he was holding in his other hand.

"Sixteen!" he exclaimed, and everyone cheered. He pulled the michrophone away from his face.

"Come on" he said, and he pulled her into the crowd. The rest of the night was spent socializing, eating, drinking, and just having fun. Around midnight, the crowd started to die down, until finally, it was just Maria, Tony, and Pepper.

"Well" said Maria, as she stood in the center of the now trashed room. "Im going to bed." Tony and Pepper were walking back, hand in hand, into the room from the door, where they had just said goodbye to the last guest.

"Night kid" said Tony.

"Thanks" said Maria, gesturing around the room. "For all this. And the suit. And, just... Thanks."

"Hey, you deserve it" Tony replied with a smile. Tony and Pepper said goodnight to Maria, and she made her way to her room, changed quickly into her pajamas, and crashed in bed. It had been an amazing day.

"Youre a great dad, you know that?" said Pepper. Her and Tony were in bed, and Pepper layed with her head on Tony's chest, tracing the arc reactor with her finger.

"Tell me more" said Tony, smirking into the darkness.

"I think your ego is big enough" Pepper replied.

"Its weird though" said Tony. "I feel like I dont fit the description of dad. Im more of a... Bad-ass gaurdian." Pepper laughed.

"Well whatever you call it, youre not half bad."

"I know. Im the best" said Tony, and Pepper flicked his chest next to the reactor.

"Ouch" he whined. "But you know, none of this would have been possible if it werent for you." Pepper smiled, and propped herself up on her elbow to look at Tony's face. He leaned up and kissed her slowly. After a moment, he pulled away, and layed his head back down on the pillow.

"I love you, Tony" Pepper whispered, laying her head back on his chest.

"Pepper" Tony sighed, squeezing her tight. "I love you too."

* * *

Authors note:

So I feel like I never really described Maria once she became older. So Ill do that now! She's about 5'7 now, with long, wavy, dark brown hair, and of course, her big brown eyes that resemble Tony's. I dont know, you may have pictured her like that on your own, but I just wanted to throw it out there haha :P

Special shoutout to everyone thats reviewed, favorited, and followed! Thank you so much! :D


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Disclamer: I own nothing Marvel related!

**Authors note at the end!

Enjoyy :)

* * *

Takes place durring Avengers

Maria is still 16

* * *

"Levels are holding steady" said Pepper, before biting her lip. "I think."

"Of course they are. I was directly involved" said Tony. He had just unsuited, ignored a call from Coulson, and entered Stark Tower. Stark Tower was now a beacon of self sustaining energy.

"Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genious?"

"Well I wouldnt really know now, would I?"

"What do you mean? All this came from you."

"No. All this, came from that" said Pepper, tapping the arc reactor in Tony's chest. Tony rubbed Pepper's arms, before keeping his hands still on Pepper's shoulders.

"Give yourself some credit. Please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself... 12 percent of the credit."

"12 percent?" asked Pepper, stepping back from Tony's grasp.

"An argument could be made for 15" said Tony, with a shrug of his shoulders. Pepper walked past Tony and over to the living room.

"12 percent?" she asked again. "For my baby?"

"Well I did do all the heavy lifting" said Tony, following behind her. "Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

"Ohhh."

"My private elevator-"

"You mean our elevator?" Pepper interupted, but Tony ignored it.

"Was teeming with sweaty workmen" he finished, as they both kneeled down next to the glass coffee table. "Im gonna pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, arent I" he said, popping open a bottle of chamagne.

"Not gonna be that subtle" replied Pepper. Tony filled two glasses with the chamagne, and handed one to Pepper.

"I'll tell you what. Next buildings gonna say 'Potts' on the tower."

"On the lease" Pepper corrected. The two moved to clink glasses, but Tony hesitated, then pulled back.

"Call your mom, can you bunk over?" he asked, and Pepper laughed.

"Sir, the telephone. Im afraid my protocols are being overwritten" informed Jarvis. Tony rolled his eyes, immediatly knowing who was behind it.

"Stark, we need to talk" came Coulson's voice. Tony picked up his phone, and held it infront of his face.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message."

"Its urgent" Coulson insisted, but Tony kept up his act.

"Then leave it urgently." Tony recieved no reply over the phone, and instead, the elevator opened, and Agent Phil Coulson stepped out. Tony lowered his phone.

"Security breach! Thats on you" said Tony, pointing at Pepper.

"Mr. Stark" greeted Coulson.

"Phil! Come in" said Pepper, standing up.

"Phil?" questioned Tony, standing up and following close behind Pepper as she walked over to Coulson. "Um, his first name is Agent."

"Come on in" said Pepper, with a welcoming smile. "We're celebrating."

"Which is why he cant stay" mumbled Tony, with a noticably fake smile on his face.

"You need to look this over as soon as possible" said Coulson, holding a laptop out to Tony. He made a face.

"I dont like to be handed things."

"Thats all right, 'cause I love to be handed things. So lets trade" said Pepper, handing Coulson her glass of champagne and taking the laptop. She shoved the laptop into Tony's hands, then took her champagne back from Coulson. Tony held the laptop in his hands and stared at it for a moment, before looking up at Coulson.

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday."

"This isnt a consultation."

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked suddenly, then caught herself. "Which, I know nothing about."

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped" said Tony, as he walked over to the closest table. "I thought. And I didnt even qualify."

"I didnt know that either" claimed Pepper.

"Yeah, apparently Im volatile, self-obsessed, and dont play well with others" Tony continued. Pepper smiled.

"That I did know."

"This isnt about personality profiles anymore" said Coulson, seriously.

"Whatever" said Tony, setting up the laptop on the table and motioning for Pepper to come over. "Miss Potts, got a minute?"

"Half a mo" said Pepper, holding up a finger then walking over to Tony. He kept his eyes on the laptop.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment."

"I was having 12 percent of a moment" said Pepper, and Tony couldnt hide his smirk.

"This seems serious" she added. "Phil seems pretty shaken."

"How did you notice? Why is he Phil?" Tony questioned, now looking at her. Pepper ignored him.

"What is all this?" she asked, looking at all the files on the laptop. Tony followed her gaze.

"This is... Well..." he started, before motioning for the information on the screen to appear in holographic form infront of them. "This." The two looked around at each of the Avengers' profiles, and the information on the tesseract.

"Im gonna take the jet to DC tonight" said Pepper.

"Tomarrow" Tony corrected, but Pepper shook her head.

"Youve got homework. Alot of homework."

"Well, what if I didnt?" Tony asked, looking to Pepper.

"You mean, if you finished?" she asked. Tony nodded.

"Well, then... Um..." Pepper said, before leaning into Tony and whispering something intimate in his ear that she would rather Coulson not hear. Tony's eyes widened.

"Square deal. Its the last date" he said, and Pepper leaned in to kiss him. Coulson looked down, feeling akward, but then looked behind him towards the elevator when it dinged. The doors opened, revealing Maria, who had a large bag over her shoulder. She was planning on staying at the tower for the weekend. She took in the sight of her father and Pepper kissing, and Coulson standing akwardly in the entryway, and sighed, amused.

"Welcome home Maria" she whispered to herself.

"Hi" greeted Coulson.

"Hey" said Maria, as she stepped out of the elevator to stand next to him. Tony and Pepper broke apart, both of them smiling. Tony looked behind Pepper, only expecting to see Coulson. When he realized Maria was there as well, his smile got larger.

"Maria!" he exclaimed, and Pepper turned around to see what he was talking about.

"Maria!" Pepper repeated, and Maria smiled as Tony and Pepper started to walk over to her.

"Hey" she said, dropping her bag next to Coulson and meeting them half way. Tony got to Maria first, and grabbed her in a hug.

"Why are you here? I thought you were coming tomarrow."

"Change in plans" she said, before letting go of Tony to hug Pepper. When they pulled apart, no one spoke. Maria looked back and forth between Coulson and Tony and Pepper.

"Something importants going on" she stated, and then a though hit her. "Does it have something to do with the Avengers?" Coulson looked past her to Tony with a dissaproving look, and he just smiled, smug, before confirming Maria's theory.

"Pretty much" he said, pointing over his shoulder to the holographic files.

"Im gonna go" said Pepper to Tony, before pecking him on the lips. "Work hard."

"I can give you a ride" offered Coulson.

"Where are you going?" asked Maria.

"DC, he has to study, and I have meetings" explained Pepper.

"Okay" said Maria, dissapointed that she wouldnt get to be with Pepper at all while she was home.

"Keep him on task" said Pepper, before hugging Maria, then following Coulson into the elevator. Tony and Maria watched the elevator doors close, then Maria turned and walked over to the hologram.

"Pepper was right" she said. "You do have homework."

"Yeah. You go unpack, youre a distraction" said Tony, walking over to stand next to Maria.

"Fine" she said, walking over and grabbing her bag which she left by the elevator. She started walking to in the direction of the room she picked while the tower was still under construction. This was the first time she had seen it finished.

"By the way, this place looks amazing" she said.

"Yeah" he said absent-mindedly. Maria rolled her eyes, then smiled. He was already engrossed in his files. Maria turned, and continued to her bedroom. Tony grabbed the holographic image of the tesseract, and frowned. His father had fished it out of the ocean while looking for Captain America. He had a bad feeling about this.

When Maria woke up in the morning, she was immediatly informed by Jarvis that Tony had left around 4 in the morning. Apparently, he took off towards Germany in his Iron Man suit. Maria decided she was okay with it. She would have time to wander around the tower and see how it turned out. She walked into the kitchen of the penthouse, and made a hot chocoalte. She grabbed the SHIELD laptop containing all the files Tony had been studying, and sat on the couch. She decided it was her turn to study. To see what her father was getting himself into.

* * *

Authors note:

Sorry for the short chapter! The next chapter will continue where this left off, I promise. Shoutout to McMuffin, the press doesnt know about Maria yet. People know she exists, but she keeps up the act as Pepper's niece so shes not the center of attention. But (SPOILER ALERT) the press will know soon!

Again, thank you all so much for the support!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Disclamer: I own nothing Marvel related!

Enjoyy :)

Tony stood in the helicarrier's detention center, staring blankly at the giant hole in the room, where Loki was still supposed to be imprisoned, but instead, Thor had been locked in and dropped out. Both engines had failed, but were now up and running again. Banner was last seen attacking a jet as the Hulk. Coulson was dead. So much had happened in such a short period of time. Just then, Steve walked in. He leaned against the frame that used to hold the Hulk-proof prison cell. Tony didnt acknowledge him. After a few moments, Steve decided to speak.

"Was he married?"

"No" Tony replied, knowing Steve was talking about Coulson. "There was a uh... Cellist, I think."

"Im sorry" said Steve. "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot" said Tony, finally looking at Steve for the first time since he entered the room.

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job."

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have-"

"Sometimes there isnt a way out, Tony" Steve interupted. Tony had had enough.

"Yeah. And how'd that work out for him?" he muttered, walking past Steve towards the door.

"Is this the first time youve lost a soldier?" asked Steve. Tony stopped dead in his tracks, and turn around to face Steve.

"We are NOT soldiers" he said sharply. "Im not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does" Steve defended. "Right now we've gotta put that aside, and get this done. Now, Loki needs a power source. So if we can put together a list-"

"He made it personal" Tony interupted, looking back at the bloodstain on the wall, where loki had attacked Coulson.

"Thats not the point" said Steve.

"That IS the point. Thats Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?" said Tony, his mind in high gear trying to put the peices together.

"To tear us apart" suggested Steve.

"Divide and conquer, thats great. He knows he has to take us out to win, right? Thats what he wants" said Tony, as it all came together in his head. "He wants to beat us, and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

"Right. I caught his act in Stuttengard" said Steve, referring to his first fight with Loki in Germany.

"Yeah. Thats just a preview" said Tony, as he walked up a couple stairs, closer to Coulson's blood stain. "This is opening night. Loki's a full tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the sky with his name plastered-" Tony paused suddenly, the last pieces put into place. Stark Tower. "Son of a bitch" he muttered, before running out of the room to go suit up. Maria was in the tower, where Loki was probably already setting up shop. He reached his suit quickly, and suited up. As soon as his face plate went down, he ordered Jarvis to call Maria.

Maria was holding her phone about to call Tony, when it started ringing. Speak of the devil.

"Dad?" she answered urgently. Jarvis had just informed her that a man named Erik Selvig was setting up a contraption on the roof, with the tesseract. She had ordered Jarvis to shut down the arc reactor, which in turn made the whole tower lose power.

"Maria" Tony breathed into the phone. "You gotta go down a few levels, stay by your suit incase anyone comes in."

"Got it" said Maria, already stepping into the elevator. Luckily she knew where to go, from exploring the tower earlier.

"Im on my way" said Tony.

"Be safe."

"Always am." And with that, the call ended. Maria made it down to one of the R&D floors, one Tony had built specifically for her.

"J, prep my suit" she said as she entered.

"Might I suggest waiting to suit up" said Jarvis in return.

"Nope" said Maria. With no reply from Jarvis, she stepped onto the lauch pad, and the floor opened up. The large robotic arms started to encase her in her blue and silver suit, and she smiled.

"Its good to be back" she said to herself. She hadnt been in her suit in a while. Just then, the whole tower shook.

"What was that?" Maria asked Jarvis.

"Mr. Stark has arrived, and has attempted to shut down the device powered by the tesseract, but the energy barrier appears to be unbreachable" Jarvis explained.

"Oh boy. How do I get out of here?" asked Maria, looking around the room and realizing there was no way out except the way she came in. Somehow, taking the elevator in her version of the Iron Man suit seemed silly. She turned around and saw Jarvis must have opened a door on the far wall, because there was now an opening in the wall leading outside.

"Not bad" she said, walking over to the opening and looking out, before jumping out entirely and flying towards the roof. She landed where she was out of view of Selvig and Tony and anyone else who might be around. But there was no one, except for Selvig. 'Weird' she thought. She looked in the top right corner of her HUD, where an icon would inform her if Tony was in his suit or not. It showed that he wasnt, and her heart skipped a beat. Where was he? Before she could take off again and look around, she heard glass shatter.

"Dad!" she screamed, realizing the window had shattered. Not by a weapon, or explosion, but from the impact of Tony's body hitting it. His body going through it. And he was free-falling towards the ground, without a suit. Maria flew full speed towards her father, but had to quickly dodge an object shooting out of the penthouse. Not just an object. The Mark VII. Maria quickly relaxed, and watched as the suit linked with Tony's wristbands (which she could proudly say she helped create) and formed around him. Right before he hit the ground, the suit powered up, and Tony blasted back up into the air, scaring a group of pedestrians in the street. She hovered to the side and watch Tony fly up to the hole in the glass.

"And theres one other person you pissed off" she heard him say. But who was he talking to? Maria flew a bit closer, and quickly met eyes with the man inside. Loki.

"His name is Phil" Tony finished, before blasting Loki with a repulser beam. Before Maria could react, Tony flew over to the roof, a good distance away from Selvig and the tesseract. He flipped his face plate up, and she knew he wanted to talk. She flew over and landed next to him, flipping her face plate up as well.

"What are you doing?!" he asked, pumped up on adrenaline.

"Helping" Maria replied simply, unphased by Tony's attitude.

"No" he said, a bit calmer. "Youre going to go inside, Jarvis is going to take the suit off, and youre going to go somewhere safe. Call Happy. Or, you know what, Ill call Happy. He could get here in a few minutes, he could take you-"

"Dad" Maria said, trying to get Tony to stop.

"To DC, you can stay with Pepper, till its safe-"

"Dad, I dont need to go anywhere."

"I dont want you getting involved!"

"What if you need me?"

"No, I wont-"

"Dad!"

"Maria, no! I-" Their argument was interupted by the sound of an explosion. They turned sharply to witness the contraption holding the tesseract erupting into the sky, a blue beam climbing higher and higher, until finally opening up into what seemed to be a portal into outerspace. Metallic looking creaters weilding energy rifles and sceptors came flying out of the portal on metallic chariots.

"Right. Army" mumbled Tony. He and Maria snapped down their faceplates at the same time, and Tony turned to Maria.

"If you follow me, or go anywhere but inside, Ill blow the suit the second its off your body" he warned, before flying off towards the portal, destroying as many of the creatures, or Chitauri as Loki called them, as he could. Maria hesitated, before flying through the hole in the glass. If she couldnt join in on the action, she could atleast keep tabs on Loki. Just as she landed in the living room, Loki started to stand up.

"I wouldnt do that" Maria warned, letting her face plate lift off her face. When Loki was fully standing, he looked at her for a moment.

"And why not?" he questioned. Maria raised her arm, and aimed for Loki.

"Because, honestly, did you really enjoy it the first time?"

"I wasnt aware the man of iron was capable of sharing."

"Hes not" replied Maria. "This suits all mine. You gonna make me use it?" Loki didnt answer, and instead starting walking straight towards Maria.

"Hey" she said sternly, reaching to grab him, to intercept him, but he dissapeared.

"What the hell?" Maria mumbled. She took a step forward, waving her arm through the air, when she heard a chuckle come from behind her.

"You mortals are so naive" said Loki, who was walking out onto the balcony. Maria raised her arm, preparing to blast him with her repulser, but lowered her arm when she noticed a man, who she recognized as Thor, land on the balcony near Loki. From what she read in Tony's files, she knew he was practically a god, was from a realm called Asgard, posessed a hammer that could summon lightning, and was Loki's brother. But he was on their side. He wanted to stop Loki, just like everyone else. She could see the two yelling at each other, and moved closer to the balcony when they broke out into a fight. She considered intervening a few times, but each time decided not to. Thor picked Loki up, lifted him over his head, then threw him to the ground, ending the fight. Thor visibly relaxed, only to tense up again when Loki rolled off the side of the balcony, landing on what Maria dubbed the Chitauri's jetskiis. Thor wiped the sweat off his chin, then turned to look at Maria. Maria waved akwardly, which Thor may or may not have seen, since the sound of an explosion caught his attention, causing him to turn away. He looked back at Maria and seemed to hesitate, before swinging his hammer and flying off towards the explosion. Maria turned around and looked at all the glass shattered on the floor of the penthouse. Now what?

After about an hour and a half of watching the destruction of the city, Tony finally contacted Maria. She had kept her faceplate on, just incase he wanted to get a hold of her like he was now.

"You know how I said we didnt need your help?" he asked. Maria smirked.

"Do the Earth's mightiest heros need me?"

"Meet me on Bridge Street" Tony instructed. Maria took off towards Bridge Street, which wasnt too far if you were flying in an Iron man suit. Tony could have been a little more specific as to where on Bridge Street, but Maria soon found all the Avengers grouping up, and lowered herself down.

"Guys" said Clint, nodding towards Maria, who just landed a few feet away and was walking towards them.

"Its fine" said Tony. "Shes with me." They all seemed to accept this, none of them asking questions. The only Avenger (other than Tony) who knew who Maria was was Natasha. They had met when Natasha was instead Natalie, Pepper's assistant, or an undercover SHIELD shadow. A select few SHIELD members knew about Maria, but after some arguing, Maria was left out of Tony's file.

"Call it, Cap" said Tony. Just because they were taking a break didnt mean the Chitauri were.

"All right, listen up" said Steve, gaining the attention of each Avenger. "Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it around or turn it to ash."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Clint asked Tony.

"Right" he agreed, walking up to Clint. "Ria, youre with me" he added, before grabbing the back of Clint's shirt. "Better clentch up, Legolas." And with that, the three shot off into the air, leaving the rest of the Avengers behind. Tony dropped Clint onto a roof, then continued on with Maria. They split up to cover more distance. Since Maria didnt have a blue tooth earpiece like the rest of the team, Tony had to keep her updated through their connection via Jarvis. Nothing of real importance was said, other than techniques to fight off the Chitauri warriors. Until a nuke was brought up.

"Wait" Maria heard Tony say. One of the other Avengers must have said something. She was getting irritated only hearing Tony's side of the conversations. "Ive got a nuke coming in, its gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it" said Tony after a pause.

"What?!" exclaimed Maria, as she changed her direction to go catch up to Tony. She reached him just in time to see him grab on to the nuke, holding it so it was on his back.

"Save the rest for the turn, J" she heard Tony say.

"Dad, what are you doing?" she asked, growing increasingly worried as she watched Tony just miss hitting Stark Tower, and fly straight up towards the portal.

"Im ending this. Its fine, okay? Youre safe, Peppers safe-"

"But youre not!" Maria interupted.

"Might as well" she heard Tony mutter, which confused her for a moment until she heard his phone ringing. He was calling someone. Really? Now didnt seem like a very good time to be making phone calls. Maria was following him up towards the portal, determined to stop him, but he had a head start, and a nuke helping him. Her stomach dropped when he flew through the opening in the sky, dissapearing. She hovered near the portal, out of the way of the Chitauri that were still pouring out.

"Dad!" she shouted, but it was no use. The small icon on her HUD which told her Tony was still in his suit, flickered out. His suit must have powered down. Maria didnt register she was lowering herself to the ground, until she landed next to Steve and Thor. Just then, an explosion rippled through the portal. The nuke must have detonated. The Chitauri warriers simotaniously dropped. The fight was over. Maria, Thor, and Steve had their eyes glued to the portal, but after a while, any hope of Tony coming back through was lost.

"Close it" Steve said, his hand on his earpiece. The portal started to close, and Maria didnt bother asking how they did it. She didnt care. Her father was lost up in space somewhere, and she would never see him again. She ripped her helmet off, threw it to the ground, and started walking in the general direction of the tower.

"Son of a gun" she heard Cap say, and the tone of his voice made her turn to face him. He was looking up towards the portal still. She followed his gaze, and a smile immediatly formed on her face. Tony came back through the portal. Marias smile slowly started to fade when she realized he wasnt flying, he was falling.

"He's not slowing down" said Thor, and he started swinging his hammer, ready to catch Tony. Maria lifted off the ground, about to do the same, when the Hulk jumped from one building to the next, catching Tony mid-air inbetween. He jumped from a building, onto the ground, landing on his back as to not crush Tony. He grunted, and flung Tony face down on the ground, before standing up. Maria, Thor, and Steve ran over, Maria being the first to reach Tony. She flipped him over so he was laying on his back, while Thor ripped off his face plate. Maria took in the sight of Tony's beaten up suit, and his cut up face. His eyes were closed. The arc reactor wasnt lit up. Steve ran his hands over Tony's chest, before placing his ear down near the arc reactor, looking for a heart beat. Like he would find one through the metal.

"I have to get another reactor" Maria said quickly, standing up. Before she could move very far, the Hulk let out a loud roar, making Maria, Steve, and Thor jump, and startling Tony into conciousness. Tony let out a yell, and the arc reactor flickered back to life.

"Oh my god" Maria sighed, dropping back down onto her knees by her father.

"What the hell" he gasped. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me" he said, breathless, causing everyone to relax and smile.

"We won" Steve concluded simply. Tony gave up trying to hold his head up, and let it rest on the ground.

"Alright. Hey! Alright! Good job guys. Lets just... not come in tomorrow. Lets just take a day. Have you ever tried Shawarma?" Tony asked, which lightened the mood a bit, and caused the Avengers to chuckle. "'Cause theres a Shawarma joint about 2 blocks from here. I dont know what it is, but I wanna try it."

"We're not done yet" said Thor, glancing in the general direction of Stark Tower. Tony made a face.

"Then Shawarma after" said Tony, before finally looking over at Maria. "Youre staring at me."

"I am" she confirmed, with a smile. "Tony Stark. Back from the dead, for what, like the millionth time?"

"Beat that" Tony said with a smirk, reaching out his hand to Thor, who helped him up.

"You think theres any cabs that survived? Im out of power" said Tony, spinning in a circle, looking at all the flipped cars. He most likely wasnt going to find a ride.

"Just steal a battery" suggested Maria. "Charge up." So thats what he did. He was a mecanic, after all. After stripping his suit, and stealing a car battery and some cables from the least smashed car they could find, they decided they might as well get some Shawarma while Tony's suit charged. They worked hard, they deserved it. They walked the three blocks to the Shawarma joint, where all the windows were shattered, and 2 of the 3 workers were attempting to sweep it up. The team took over the biggest table, pulling up extra chairs so they could all fit. A man came out from the kitchen with a tray of burgers.

"Its on the house" he said, before walking back to the kitchen.

"Thank you" Steve said, while they all grabbed a burger. After about five minutes of silent eating, Clint was the first to break the speak.

"Okay. So whats up? Is no one else wondering why theres now an Iron Girl?"

"No, Iron Girl's out" said Tony, making a face. Maria looked at him, questioningly.

"What?" said Tony. "Iron Man sounds good. Iron Girl? Its stupid." Maria shook her head and laughed, before taking another bite of her burger.

"Maria" she said, introducing herself with a mouthful of food.

"Maria..." Steve prodded, waiting for her to reveal her last name. Maria glanced at Tony, before looking Steve in the eye.

"Stark." Steve choked on his peice of hamburger, and Clint spit out his soda. Bruce looked at Tony with a shocked expression, while Natasha smiled at the team's reaction. Thor was the first to speak.

"In what relation?" But the team already knew.

"Shes Tony's daughter" said Natasha.

"You already knew about this?" asked Clint.

"I met her when Fury cast me as a shadow for Stark" she explained. Bruce was the next to speak.

"You and Pepper-"

"No!" Tony interupted. Pepper had become the topic for a few minutes while Tony and Bruce were working in the lab in the helicarrier.

"Pepper?" Thor questioned, his mouth full. He seemed to be the only one who had started eating again. Tony sighed.

"Pepper Potts. She's my girlfriend. And Marias my daughter. But they are in no way related" he explained quickly.

"Im a one night stand baby" added Maria with a smirk.

"One night stand?" Steve asked, not up to date with all the terms used in 2012.

"Its when you meet a girl, sleep with her one time, and never talk to her again" explained Clint.

"You make it sound so harsh" said Tony.

"You made Pepper throw the girls out in the morning" said Maria. When Tony recieved a few incredulous glares, he rolled his eyes.

"It is acceptable to have relations with more than one woman in Midgard?" asked Thor.

"Me and Pepper werent together at the time. She was my assistant."

"Youre doing your assistant?" asked Clint.

"Shes not my assistant anymore, shes the CEO, and- how did this become about mine and Pepper's relationship?"

"I think its time we take out the trash" said Bruce, standing up. Tony immediatly stood up with him.

"I second it." The rest of the team stood, and waited for Tony to suit back up, before they all made their way to Stark Tower. When they arrived, Loki was unconcious in a crater in the floor.

"What the hell?" questioned Tony.

"Um... I think that may have been me" said Bruce, raising his hand slightly. Tony smiled, and slapped him on the back.

"And thats how you strut." Steve shot Tony a warning look, and Tony rolled his eyes dramatically.

"You know" said Maria. "Peppers going to kill you."

"Yup" Tony agreed. "But we made a deal before all this, and Im depending on her to hold up her end."

"Well, its a good think you made it out of the wormhole" said Maria. At Maria's words, Tony started to think about everything that had just taken place, and his stomach tightened. But before he could think too much about it, Loki gained conciousness. More like Clint kicked him into conciousness. When he took in the sight of the Avengers surrounding him, he sighed.

"If its all the same to you, I think I'll have that drink now." But a drink was the last thing he was going to get.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Disclamer: I own nothing Marvel related!

**authors note at end

Enjoyy :)

* * *

Takes place durring Iron Man 3 (we're gona say IM3 takes place 2 months after the Avengers, which gives Tony enough time to build his 42 suits)

Maria is still 16

* * *

"Yeah, he was on the other side of the house." said Maria, explaining the last time she saw Tony to a police officer. "He had his suit though."

"The Iron Man suit?" asked the police.

"Yeah." The police started writing the information down, and Maria looked at Pepper, who was wandering around the rubble, looking for any kind of sign that proved Tony was still alive. The mansion had been attacked earlier that day. The house was now in pieces, and Tony Stark was no where to be found. Maria watched as Pepper bent down and picked up a helmet, and could only pray that it didnt belong to the Mark 42, the suit Tony had been wearing durring the attack. Pepper leaned her forhead against the helmet's forhead, and then spun the helmet around to look inside. She put the helmet on after a moment, which made Maria curious.

"Hold on a sec" she said to the police officer, before walking over to Pepper. "Pepper." When she got no response, she tapped on the helmet. Pepper took off the helmet and immediatly passed it to Maria.

"Theres a message. Listen to it" said Pepper.

"Like a voice message?" questioned Maria, already putting the helmet on.

"Jarvis, play the message."

"Pepper..." came Tony's voice, and Maria couldnt help but smile with relief. "Or Maria. Whoevers listening. Its me. Ive got alot of apologies to make, and not alot of time. So, first off, Im so sorry I put you in harms way. That was selfish, and stupid, and it wont happen again. And also, Pepper, its Christmas time... The rabit's too big. Done. Sorry. And Im sorry in advance, 'cuz I cant come home yet. I gotta find this guy. You gotta stay safe. Thats all I know. I just stole a poncho from a wooden Indian..." the voicemail continued, but Maria stopped listening. She had an idea.

"Jarvis, track his call."

"Rose Hill, Tennessee" replied the AI. Maria mentally slapped herself for not thinking of that. He had started planning a trip there before this whole fiasco, when they noticed a high heat signature that occurred there.

"Put the exact coordinates in my suit, J" said Maria, hoping her suit had survived the attack. "We're going to Tennessee." Maria took off the helmet, and noticed Pepper watching her.

"I have to go."

"No, Maria, you're staying here. Tony doesnt want you involved in-" started Pepper, but Maria interupted.

"I dont care. Im gonna find him, and bring him home." Pepper was silent for a moment, before finally sighing in defeat.

"Okay. Go. Be safe, he'd kill me if anything happened to you."

"No he wouldnt. He cant function without you" said Maria. After hugging Pepper goodbye, she made her way through the rubble in search of her suit, ignoring the police officers' protests. She dropped through a hole in the floor, down into where the workshop was. 5 out of the 7 suits Tony had out on display were nowhere to be seen. Maria walked over to the two remaining, which had been thrown out of the display case and onto the floor in pieces.

"Jarvis" she said, but then paused. Their house was a cumbled mess. There was no way Jarvis was still up and running. She was going to have to find her suit on her own. It hadnt been in a display case, since it no longer had to be assembled by the large robotic arms. It was like Tony's newer suits, and could just open up, you could step inside, then it'd close around you. Maria thought back to the last time she had used it. She had taken it off... Down on the newly added first floor of the workshop! She dropped through another hole in the floor, down to her destination. And there was her suit, in one piece, under a pile of rubble.

"Yes" Maria breathed. She walked over and started pushing the rubble asside. She pushed an emergency button on the inside thigh of the suit, and the suit opened up. Maria clumsily climbed inside, and it closed around her. A red light scanned her eye as the suit powered up.

"Retina scan verified" said Jarvis.

"Okay, lets get to it then" said Maria, before taking off in the direction of the coordinates Jarvis had loaded and displayed on the HUD.

Maria landed by the phone booth hours later. 'Ew. snow' she thought. She looked around, but Tony wasn't there. Maria walked over to the wooden Indian Tony had mentioned in his message. Shaking her head, she turned to look at the little village.

"Are you able to track where his suit is?" Maria asked Jarvis. Without a yes or no, Jarvis showed the coordinates of Tony's suit. It wasnt far at all.

"Sweet" she said, taking off and flying to a shed which she was told held Tony's suit. She pushed open the door, and popped up her face plate.

"Ria?" said Tony, surpised to see his daughter there. He was working on his suit, which was laying across a small desk. What was strange, was the fact that there was a boy who seemed to be around 10 hovering around Tony.

"Hey" said Maria casually.

"Thats Ironette" the boy whispered to Tony in disbelief. Maria smirked. After the events in New York, she had been dubbed Ironette by just about everyone. It beat 'Iron Girl' by a long shot. Tony rolled his eyes at the kid's comment.

"I guess you got my message" said Tony.

"Yeah. And I saw the Indian. I think you should give him his poncho back."

"He'll survive" Tony replied, and Maria smiled. She let her suit open up, and she stepped out. She walked over to the desk, and could feel the kid's eyes on her.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer" she said. Tony looked at Maria, then to the boy, before standing up.

"Right. Kid, this is Maria. Maria, Harley."

"Are the rest of the Avengers coming?" Harley asked to no one in particular, and Tony noticably flinched.

"Harley-" he said, and Maria cut him off.

"No" she said, answering Harley. "Whats wrong with it?" she then asked Tony, pointing to the suit and changing the topic. She knew the Avengers were a sore topic for Tony. After Tony had a panic attack at a diner when he was with Rhodey, the topic of the Avengers was purposefully avoided.

"Nothing anymore" said Tony. He glanced over at Harley, who was now inspecting Maria's suit.

"You gotta go home" he said, looking back to Maria. "Go to Rhodey's, or go to New York if you want, I dont care. Im not putting you in danger anymore."

"Dad. I'd be in more danger back in Malibu than here in Kentucky."

"Tennessee" Harley corrected.

"Whatever" said Maria, still looking at Tony. "Im not a little girl anymore. Im not fragile. I can help." Tony bit his tongue and glanced over at his suit on Harley's desk. He rolled his head back around to look at Maria.

"Fine. Yeah, youre right" he agreed. Maria smiled, then looked back at her suit, which Harley was still hanging around.

"Hey" said Tony, grabbing her arm to get her attention back. When Maria looked at him, a small smile was on his face. "Im glad youre okay."

"Right back at ya."

"Pepper and Mya..." Tony started. He had so many questions. Did they make it out of the house in one piece? Did they get somewhere safe?

"They were with the police when I left. Theyre safe" said Maria, and Tony visibly relaxed a bit.

"Okay! Lets go" he said, walking past Maria and towards the door. Harley followed right behind him.

"Go where?" Maria asked.

"The bombing site." That immediatly grabbed Maria's interest, and she fell in step behind them. It was the site of the heat signature Tony and her were looking at before the Malibu house had been attacked. They walked to a diner to grab a sandwhich for Tony, then to the bombing site, following Harley the whole way there. When they were approaching the site, which was pretty much in the same state as their mansion back home, Tony looked at his watch.

"Sandwhich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials will make do. By the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kinda hoping for something a little more adult than that" Tony said, and Maria leaned over to see the watch on his wrist.

"Shut up" said Tony, when Maria started laughing at the Dora watch.

"Shes six!" Harley exclaimed, laughing. "Anyway, its limited edition." After a few moments of silence, Harley started to speak again.

"When can we talk about New York?"

"Maybe never. Relax about it" Tony replied.

"What about the Avengers?"

"I dont know, later. Hey, kid" said Tony, pushing Harley. "Gimme a little space."

"Whats the official story here? What happened?" asked Maria, when they reached the site. There was a large crater in the floor in the center of what used to be a room, and peoples' shadows were permanently cast onto what was left of the walls. The wreckage was decorated with pictures and flowers and notes and other things, paying respect to the people killed.

"There was this guy named Chad Davis, used to live round-abouts" Harley explained, sitting on the ground as Tony and Maria walked amung the rubble. "Won abunch of medals in the army, and one day folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. And blew himself up, right here."

"Six people died, right?" questioned Tony.

"Yeah" Harley confirmed.

"Including Chad Davis."

"Yeah yeah."

"Yeah, that doesnt make sense" said Tony, sitting down on the ground next to Harley. "Think about it. 6 dead, only 5 shadows." Maria ran her hand along one of the shadows on the wall, and listened to her father try to put it all together.

"You know, people say these shadows are like... They mark the souls going to heaven" explained Harley. "Except the bomb guy. He went to hell, and like, kinda he didnt get a shadow. Thats why theres only 5."

"Do they buy that?" asked Tony.

"Its what everyone says." Tony didnt reply. After a few minutes, Harley broke the silence. Something he seemed to be very good at.

"You know what this crater reminds me of?"

"No idea. Im not... I dont care" replied Tony, expecting the boy to stop talking. But he didnt.

"The giant wormhole, in um, in New York" said Harley, a smile on his face. Did he not know what he was doing?

"Hey" warned Maria. Tony had his hand on his face, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Does it remind you?" Harley prodded, and Maria started to walk over to the two.

"Thats manipulative. I dont wanna talk about it" said Tony.

"Are they coming back? The aliens?" He really didnt know when to stop.

"Maybe. Can you stop?" said Tony, his voice becoming strained.

"Dad..." Maria said quietly, as she reached him. Tony calmed down a bit.

"Remember what I told you?" he asked Harley. "That I have an anxiety issue?"

"Does this subject make you edgy?" Tony's breathing hitched.

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second?" Maria crouched down next to Tony, and put a hand on his shoulder. He tensed up.

"Dad..."

"Do you need a plastic bag to- to breath into?" asked Harley, and Tony blew out a breath he had been holding in, in an attempt to calm his breathing.

"Do you have medication?"

"No."

"Harley" Maria said sternly.

"Do you need to be on it?" he continued.

"Probably" answered Tony.

"Do you have PTSD?"

"I dont think so."

"Are you- are you going completely mental?"

"Kid seriously" said Maria. Tony's breathing was turning into hyperventalating, his body was tense, and he kept squeezing his eyes shut.

"I can stop, if you want me to stop-"

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear youre gonna freak me out!" snapped Tony. It was silent for a moment, as Tony stared ahead. He couldnt calm down. He stood up suddenly, making Maria pull her hand away.

"God, you did it, didnt you?" he muttered, turning and starting to run towards the stop sign on the corner at the other end of the street.

"What did I say?" Harley yelled after him. Maria stood up quickly.

"You happy now?" she said to him, before running after Tony. "Dad!" Harley stood up and followed.

"Hey! Wait up!" he yelled. Tony made it to the stop sign, and grabbed at the brick wall of a building before sinking down into the snow on the sidewalk. He ripped his hat off, grabbed a handful of snow, and rubbed it in his face. Maria reached him, slightly out of breath. She immediatly crouched down next to him.

"Hey, are you okay?" she said, trying to sound as calm and soothing as possible. Just then, Harley reached them.

"What the hell was that?" he asked. Maria looked up at him dumbfounded. Even Tony removed the snow from his face to look at him. Tony balled the snow up in his hand and threw it at Harley, before pointing at him.

"Youre fault" he accused. "You spazzed me out." He was finally starting to calm down.

"And what are you doing swearing? Youre like 10" added Maria. Harley hesitated, and before he could say anything, Tony started to speak.

"'Kay, back to business. Where were we? The guy that died, relatives? A mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?"

"Where she always is" replied Harley, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"See? Now youre being helpful" said Tony. Maria stood up, then grabbed Tony's hand, pulling him up as well. They were now on a mission.

After a hectic fight with a glowing red cop, which resulted in a collapsed water tower, Maria and Harley were heading back to Harley's shed. Tony had taken off in a random car, not sharing his plan. All they knew was that they were to stay glued to the phone incase he called, locate where the Mandarin was, and charge his suit. The two were silent the whole walk to the shed. Maria walked in first, and went straight to her dad's suit. She knocked on the faceplate.

"J, you up?" she asked, waiting to hear the AI's framiliar reply. But it never came. Maria looked up from the suit, and spun in a circle, taking in everything in the shed. She noticed a car burried under the clutter, and walked over to it, shoving the junk off the hood.

"What are you doing?" asked Harley, as Maria opened up the hood and started fiddling with the parts inside.

"Im getting..." said Maria, before pulling the car's battery out. "This."

"Why?" questioned Harley.

"We've gotta charge the suit, remember?" Harley watched Maria hook Tony's suit to the car battery.

"How do we know if its charging?" asked Harley.

"Jarvis?" said Maria, looking at Tony's suit.

"Charging. Power at 1%" said the AI. Maria looked at Harley.

"Does that answer your question?" Harley nodded, and the two sat down at the desk. Maria infront of the computer, and Harley infront of the phone. Harley watched Maria type and click around on the screen.

"Jarvis, use all available AIM downlink facilities to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal" she instructe the AI.

"As you wish."

"Why are you the only Avenger that came?" asked Harley.

"Because Im the only Avenger that calls Iron Man 'dad'" Maria replied, glancing at Harley before looking back to the computer. Harley thought about that for a moment, before shooting off another question.

"Why does he have panic attacks?"

"Im not a doctor" Maria replied, but Harley just looked at her, expecting more. After a moment, Maria sighed in defeat, turning away from the computer to face Harley.

"He's been held captive in a cave in Afghanistan, and had his chest ripped open for an electromagnet without any meds. Hes flown a nuke into outerspace, where he knew he was most likely going to die-"

"But he didnt, the Hulk-"

"Yeah, he came out of the portal, and yeah, Banner caught him. But if you had experienced all that, along with discovering all these gods and aliens and other dimensions that were nothing but fantasies before hand... I think you'd be pretty messed up too."

"Will he ever be okay again?"

"He's Iron Man. He'll figure it out. He always does." Harley didnt respond, and Maria turned back to the computer.

"But hey" she said, looking at Harley. "Dont bring up New York around my dad anymore."

"Okay" said Harley. Maria looked back at the computer, watching as Jarvis attemted to track the Mandarin. Time went on, and the Mandarin still hadnt been located, and Tony still hadnt called. Maria and Harley would talk from time to time, but that had ended about a half an hour ago. They were getting tired. Especially Harley. Maria looked over at the kid, whos arms were crossed on the table with his head laying ontop, his eyes closed.

"Hey" said Maria, nudging him.

"Dont nod off." Harley opened his eyes and sighed, before sitting up.

"Did we find him yet?" he asked, referring to the Mandarin.

"No... We're close though." Harley closed his eyes and squeezed them tight, before openeing them again.

"Do you have any candy?" asked Maria.

"Um, yeah... I think, in the house" said Harley.

"Go get that for me." Harley stood up slowly, and walked out of the shed. He returned a few minutes later with a bag of Smarties.

"If your hungry, we can get actual food" said Harley, setting the bag on the desk infront of Maria.

"No. Just start unwrapping, and put 'em in..." she said, before looking around the desk. She found a small bowl filled with screws, and dumped the screws out into a box on the desk before setting the bowl next to the candy. "This." The two spent the next few minutes unwrapping Smarties and dumping them in the bowl.

"Okay" said Maria, when the bowl was finally filled to the top. "Start eating."

"Why?" asked Harley, confused.

"I cant have you falling asleep. The candy'll keep you awake. What if my dad calls and needs us both?" At that, Harley started to eat the candy. 45 minutes later, the phone started to ring.

"Hello?" said Harley, picking up the phone.

"Harley. Tell me whats happening, gimme the full report" said Tony on the other end.

"Yeah, um Ive been eating candy for like..."

"45 minutes straight" Maria said, leaning closer to the phone that Harley had against his ear, so Tony could hear her. "He was falling asleep."

"Should I keep eating it?" Harley asked.

"How much you had?" asked Tony.

"Two or three bowls."

"Can you still see straight?" Harley looked towards the computer screen and squinted.

"Sort of."

"That means youre fine. Give me to Jarvis." Harley handed the phone to Maria, who set it on the faceplate of her dad's suit.

"Jarvis, how are we?" said Tony.

"Its totally fine sir. I seem to do quite well for a stretch, and then at the end of the sentence I say the wrong cranberry" said Jarvis. "But sir, Miss Stark was right. Once I factored in available AIM downlink facilities I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal." Maria immediatly looked at the computer. Jarvis must have found the Mandarin right when Tony called.

"What are we talking about? Far east Europe? North africa? Iran? Pakistan? Syria? Where is it?" questioned Tony.

"Actually sir, its in Miami" Jarvis replied.

"Okay. Ria, youre gnna have to reboot Jarvis' speech drive, but not right now." Maria went to pick up the phone, but Harley beat her to it.

"Okay" Harley said.

"Harley, where is he really? Just look on the screen and tell me where it is" said Tony. Harley looked at the computer, and Maria pointed to the location on the screen.

"Um, it does say Miami Florida" said Harley.

"Okay. First things first" said Tony. "I need the armour. Where we at with it?"

"Uh, its not charging." You could actually hear the brakes screech on Tony's stolen car over the phone.

"Give me that" said Maria, taking the phone from Harley. "Actually dad, it is charging." Jarvis started to speak, and Maria put the phone on speaker.

"The power source is questionable and may not succeed in revitalising the Mark 42."

"Whats questionable about electricity?!" asked Tony. "Okay, its my suit, and I cant- Im not gonna- I dont wanna-" he was starting to sound out of breath. Harley looked at Maria, a worried expression on his face.

"Oh god not again" Tony muttered breathlessly.

"Tony? Are you having another attack? I didnt even mention New York" said Harley, and Maria smacked his arm.

"Right, and then you just said it, by name, while denying having said it!" said Tony. His voice sounded panicked and strained.

"Okay, uh..."

"Oh god, what am I gonna do?" gasped Tony.

"Dad, just breath" said Maria. "Really, just breath."

"Your a mecanic, right?" said Harley.

"Right" Tony answered after a moment.

"You said so."

"Yes I did."

"Why dont you just build something?" said Harley.

"Yeah, youre Tony Stark. Youre Iron Man! You can do anything" added Maria. Tony was silent for a long time.

"Dad?"

"Okay" Tony said, finally. He was sounding calmer. "Thanks guys." Before anything else could be said, the line was disconnected. Maria looked at Harley accusingly.

"What?" he asked innocently. Maria just shook her head.

"Nothing."

* * *

**Authors note!

How long has it been since Ive updated? Like a month?! Im so sorry! I have been crazyyy busy, between vacation and sports and friends, I havent had time to write! But Im back! Dont worry!

Thank you all for reviewing, following, and favoriting! You make my world go 'round! :D


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